In a tragic incident, 13 people, including women and children, met a watery grave after they fell into a well while watching a wedding ceremony at Naurangia village in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district late on Wednesday night.
According to the police sources here, the incident happened after the slab around the well, which the victims were holding, suddenly collapsed under the weight of the onlookers.
Police said that over three dozen people, including women and children, had fallen into the well but some of them were rescued by the locals. ''The well was deep and half-filled with water,'' said a senior police official in Kushinagar. At least 25 people were pulled out of the well by the residents.
Eye witness accounts said that the rescue work was hampered by darkness. They also said that the ambulance arrived at the village several hours after the incident.
Sources said that around a dozen people were being treated at the district hospital where the condition of some of them was stated to be critical.
The district administration has announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased.
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