A 17-year-old girl was killed and eight people were injured when a portion of a temple collapsed in the Shahganj area of this Uttar Pradesh district on Monday, police said. The roof of the temple verandah collapsed during the distribution of 'prasad' to locals and 'kanwariyas', they said.
The incident occurred around 8 am. Several people trapped in the rubble were rescued and sent to a city hospital, Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Suraj Kumar Rai said. The dead has been identified as Jyoti, he said.
Pawan Kumar, an eyewitness, said, "I escaped because I had come out of the temple a few minutes before the incident. All of us rushed inside when we heard the screams of the people trapped in the debris and began to pull them out."
A 17-year-old girl was found dead and the injured were sent for treatment by the police, he added. The verandah, which was already structurally weak, was battered by rain over the past few days, Kumar said.
