At least 25 people were killed and 20 others were hurt as the roof of a structure in a cemetery at Ghaziabad’s Muradnagar area in Uttar Pradesh collapsed.
The incident took place when the people were taking shelter under the recently-constructed structure due to heavy rains after attending a funeral on Sunday.
Around 50 people gathered in the crematorium to attend the last rites of a fruit-seller.
Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were called to join the rescue operation launched by the police and district administration.
Ghaziabad superintendent of police Abhishek Verma said of the 20 injured, 8 are in critical condition and they are being treated in different hospitals.
“The corridor was almost 25 feet long and prima facie it seems it came down because of the heavy downpour,” a media report quoted Verma as saying.
Police have lodged an FIR against the contractor and officials of the Municipal Corporation of Muradnagar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the report quoted officials as saying.
The FIR was lodged against contractor Ajay Tyagi, engineer Niharika Singh, junior engineer Chandra Pal, supervisor Ashish and an unnamed official of the corporation involved in the construction work.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed to institute an investigation into the matter under the supervision of Meerut divisional commissioner and inspector general of police.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also expressed his concern over the incident and said he has been deeply “hurt” by the mishap.
