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Three killed, 11 injured as well slab collapses during prayer ritual in Ville Parle

The deceased are identified as Divya Chandresh Kumar Yadav, 3, Renu Yadav, 25, and Jamurat Yadav, 55.

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Rescue ops underway; (inset) Divya Chandresh
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Three people, including a three-year-old, drowned while performing a traditional ritual around a well in Ville Parle on Tuesday. The incident took place at around 4.30 pm when 14 people — mostly women — fell into the well after a slab collapsed in an area behind Shiv Sagar hotel on Dikshit Road.

The deceased are identified as Divya Chandresh Kumar Yadav, 3, Renu Yadav, 25, and Jamurat Yadav, 55.

There were 30 people who had come to pray at the well, as part of a North Indian tradition called Jivdiya. Fourteen women are said to have sat above the well which was covered by a slab. During the ceremony, the net covering the well gave way and everyone fell into the well. E rescue services said that search operations are still on.

The well said to be decades old, was unable to hold the weight of the women and gave way. Those outside immediately alerted the police and the fire brigade. The fire brigade got into the act with a sucking machine, drawing out water from the 26- feet-deep well.

Seven women were soon rescued in the joint operation by the Mumbai police and the fire brigade team. Dr Rajesh Sukhdeve, medical superintendent of RN Cooper Hospital, said, "One child, a teenager and a woman were brought to the hospital. The three-year-old girl was brought dead while the other is yet to be identified. One is in ICU and stable."

Dr Rajeshree Jadhav, medical superintendent of VN Desai Hospital at Santacruz to which four other patients were rushed, said, "We had admitted four patients out of which one is an 11-year-old girl. All patients are female and are in stable condition. We have kept them under observation."

Dr Rajesh Sukhdeve, medical superintendent of RN Cooper Hospital, said, "One child, a teenager and a woman were brought to the hospital. The three-year-old girl was brought dead while the other is yet to be identified. One is in ICU and stable."

As per the locals, below the water of the deep well, the area is marshy and it is quite possible that those deceased could not have got up to the surface due to the pressure coming from within.

According to the police, the ritual was practised annually near the well which is situated inside a private property owned by one Ruiya family. "As per the ritual, the women present were circling around the well after which some climbed atop it," said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 8, Anil Kumbhare.

Shams Morani, a guest staying at a nearby hotel, said he gave CPR to one of the victims Madhuri Pandey, 48, after she was rescued from the well. "Me and a couple of people rushed to the well and threw a rope to save those drowning. One of them aged 45 was rescued but was unconscious. I gave her CPR to remove the water choked in her abdomen and nose," he said.

Grandfather of the deceased Divya Yadav, 3, Achelaal Yadav said the family used to practice the ritual annually and this done in memory of those deceased in the family. "This was totally unexpected... Divya had a habit of getting into mischief... She ran towards the well and was playing there. By the time anything could be done, the slab collapsed."

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