Overview
- A two-storey mud (kutcha) house in Jalhathani Tola, Barhapan village fell in on a sleeping family late Monday night, trapping eight people under debris.
- Villagers, police and district officials used an excavator and hand digging to free victims and by about 1 a.m. they had recovered three dead and several injured family members.
- Kotwali police identified the dead as Arun Vishwakarma (36), his mother Satuliya/Santuliya Devi (65) and his two-year-old daughter Pushpa, and the bodies were sent for post-mortem and inquest (panchnama).
- Officials moved the injured to the local Baidhan government hospital and a private hospital but reports differ on whether four or five people were hurt as authorities continue to reconcile casualty numbers.
- Villagers said the family had received Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) assistance and was building a new house, highlighting the risk that transitional periods of construction pose for people living in ageing mud homes.