Kushinagar tragedy: 3 km in 90 min? Delay in ambulance caused more deaths, victims' kin allege

At least 13 women were killed and over a dozen injured after drowning in a well, late on Wednesday, during a ‘haldi’ ceremony in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar. Police said the victims - all women and children - were sitting on a metal slab covering the well when it collapsed under their weight.

The Kushinagar Police handed over the 13 bodies to the relatives after the post-mortem was conducted. Around 22 women fell into the well, while some were rescued by villagers and the police, 13 others could not be saved in time. The villagers and the relatives accused the health department of negligence as the ambulance reached the spot two hours late.

The villagers accused the health department of negligence and said that many people could have been saved if treatment and ambulance had reached on time. The villagers alleged that there were neither doctors at the nearby Kotwa Community Health Centre (CHC) nor the ambulance arrived in time. ADG (Gorakhpur) Akhil Kumar, who reached the spot, said that cause of the incident is being investigated.

According to a report in Amar Ujala, the deceased have been identified as Pooja Yadav (20), Shashikala (15), Aarti (13), Pooja Chaurasia (17), Jyoti Chaurasia (10), Meera (22), Mamta (35), Shakuntala (34), Pari (20), Radhika (20) and Sundari (9). Two of them are yet to be identified.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief at the loss of lives in the mishap. According to sources, CM Adityanath might reach the incident site and pay condolences to the mourning families.