9 devotees injured after balcony ledge collapses near Banke Bihari Temple in Mathura

AGRA: At least nine pilgrims were injured, two of them seriously, after a part of the balcony ledge of a house collapsed in a narrow lane leading to the Banke Bihari Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district on Tuesday evening.

According to the details, the incident happened at around 6.15 pm in Gali No. 5 (near Gate No 4 of the temple), reportedly after a group of monkeys jumped on the balcony ledge, weakening it, causing it to crash onto devotees passing below.

The three-story building belonged to a local man identified as Sudhir Goswami.

The accident took place amid a surge in pilgrim footfall during the ongoing Adhik Maas period, when thousands of devotees are visiting the temple for darshan.

Speaking to TOI, Manish Goswami said, "Monkeys were seen leaping on the house owned by Sudhir Goswami, who is also my neighbour, when the balcony suddenly gave way and collapsed onto the crowded lane."

The debris struck several pilgrims walking towards the temple, leaving as many as seen people. All the victims were rushed to Ramakrishna Mission Sevashram Hospital for treatment, where all the injured were "out of danger".

Those injured have been identified as Lakshmi Narayanan Varshnya (35) from Aligarh, who was visiting the Banke Bihari Temple to seek blessings on his birthday. The other included Rudransh Singh (5) from Agra, his father Vijay (35), Urmila Devi (65) and her husband Govind Lal (70) from Delhi's Janakpuri, Chanchal Prajapati (26) from Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur, and Janki Devi and Megha Saini, Govind Lal (65) from Delhi and Astha Bhadauriya (17) from Etawah.

The collapse triggered panic in the temple approach lane, with devotees scrambling to safety as rescue efforts got underway.

District magistrate CP Singh and senior superintendent of police Shlok Kumar rushed to the spot after receiving information about the incident. The officials inspected the site and later visited the hospital to enquire about the condition of the injured pilgrims.

Speaking to TOI, Mathura DM CP Singh said, "As the pilgrims were going out of the temple, at around 300 meters near the gali number 5, a balcony ledge wall of a house collapsed. There was also a storm before the incident. The seven people are out of danger."

The incident came nearly three years after five people died and four more were injured when parts of an old building collapsed on devotees near the Banke Bihari temple in Mathura.