Three of a family, including a two-year-old girl, killed as mud house collapses in Singrauli

Three members of one family were killed when a mud house collapsed in Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli district on Monday night. Among the dead is a two-year-old girl. The family was asleep at the time. Eight members were buried in the debris, and five of them were pulled out injured and taken to hospital.

The incident occurred in Jalhathani Tola of Barahpan village, under Kotwali police station limits. The dead have been identified as Arun Vishwakarma, 36, his mother Santulia, 65, and Arun's two-year-old daughter. Some other members of the family were also injured.

Villagers and administration officials gathered at the spot as soon as the house fell. Relief and rescue work began with the help of a JCB machine. By about 1 am, the bodies and the injured had been taken out of the debris. The injured were sent to hospital, where they are being treated at the trauma centre in Waidhan. SDM and police officials also reached the spot to oversee the rescue and relief work.

According to available information, the family had eaten and was sleeping inside the house when strange sounds began coming from a crack in a wall. The family feared the house could fall, but the whole structure collapsed before they could do anything.

According to police, the house was about 50 years old. It was an ancestral mud house with a tiled roof, to which several makeshift portions had been added over the years.

The family owns about four acres of farmland. Arun and his father farmed it. Arun and his younger brother Subhash also worked as masons. Subhash escaped the tragedy because he had gone to a construction site in Waidhan and returned home late. A house had been sanctioned in Arun's name under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and its construction was under way.

Singrauli MLA Ramniwas Shah said Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav has expressed grief over the incident. The Chief Minister has directed the administration to provide financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh to the family of each deceased person and Rs 25,000 to each injured person.