DATIA: Seven persons were killed when an old wall adjacent to a house collapsed on Thursday due to heavy rains in Madhya Pradesh's Datia town, an official said. The incident took place at around 4 am in Khalkapura area.
The wall situated adjacent to a house fell over it, trapping nine persons under the debris.
Seven persons were killed and two others rescued, Datia Collector Sandeep Makin said.
The fort, called `Rajgarh', is believed to be 400 years old, and once housed a museum which was later shifted elsewhere, said a local resident.
The State Disaster Emergency Response Force (SDERF) team took part in the rescue operation that lasted more than six hours, the collector said.
Expressing grief over the incident, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced an assistance of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of the victims, the official said.
As per collector Makin, five of the deceased belong to one family, while the other two belong to another family.
The deceased were identified as Niranjan Vanshkar (55), Mamta Vanshkar (45), Shivam (20), Suraj (17), Radha (23), Kishan Vanshkar (55) and Prabha (50).
Congress MLA from Datia, Rajendra Bharti, criticized the administration for the "slow" rescue operation, claiming that it was unprepared to deal with such situations.
He also demanded Rs five lakh compensation each for the kin of the deceased, and Rs two lakh for the injured persons.
Senior BJP leader and former state home minister Narottam Mishra also visited the spot, and expressed grief over the incident.
He attended the last rites of the victims.