Seven members of a family were killed in Karnataka’s Belagavi district on Wednesday after a wall collapsed due to heavy rain, ANI reported. The deceased included two children also.
The incident occurred in Badala Ankalgi village in the district.
MG Hirematt, the deputy commissioner at the Hirebaagewadi police station, said that authorities will conduct post-mortem examinations of those who died.
The people who died were Arjun Khangavi (48), his wife Satyavva Khanagavi (45), their daughters Lakshmi (17) and Puja (8), and their relatives Gangavva Khanagavi (50), Savita Khanagavi (28) and Kashavva Kolappanavar (8), the Deccan Herald reported.
The deceased were construction workers and were renovating an old house. They were living in a shed nearby.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai expressed condolences to the relatives of those who died and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin, PTI reported. He also advised the state minister in charge of the district, Govind Karjol, to visit the spot on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the loss of lives was saddening. He announced ex-gratia compensation of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to each of the families.
This was the second instance of rain-related deaths in Karnataka in the past two days. On Tuesday, two agricultural labourers – Basavaraj Shahbadi (56) and Arjun Kolluru (52) – died after they were struck by lightning in iggaon village in the Kalaburagi district, according to the Deccan Herald.
The India Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for the coastal areas in Karnataka and has predicted heavy rain in the region on Thursday, India Today reported.
However, the state has received 8% lower than normal rainfall in the south-west monsoon from June to September, according to The Times of India reported. At the end of September, the state received 787 millimetres of rainfall while the average figure is 852 millimetres.
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