At least seven devotees were killed at Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha temple, Simhachalam, in Visakhapatnam, in the early hours of Wednesday, April 30, after a wall collapsed onto them. The incident occurred during the Chandanotsavam temple festival which had attracted a huge gathering of devotees.
Officials said that heavy rains and wind is likely to have led to the wall collapse.
Expressing condolences to the victims, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said, “I am deeply saddened by the death of seven devotees due to the collapse of a wall during the Chandanotsavam of Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. My deepest condolences to the families of those who died in this incident due to the collapse of a wall due to heavy rains.”i
The Chief Minister gave instructions to set up a three-member committee to investigate the incident. He also announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh each for the families of the deceased, and Rs 3 lakh each for those injured.
Vinay Chand, Secretary, Revenue Endowments Department, told ANI, “Preliminarily, we have noticed that there was a torrential downpour between 2.30 am to 3.30 am.” Both heavy winds and a huge gush of water flowing suddenly into this area might have caused the wall collapse, he said.
“The wall is also surrounded by earthen revetment, that soil might have loosened up. Because of the wind, we have seen some pandals’ poles have also fallen down. That (wind) might have also contributed to loosening the soil surrounding the wall,” he said, leading to the wall losing support and collapsing.
Earlier in January, six devotees were killed in a stampede in Tirupati while waiting for darshan tickets. CM Naidu suspended a police officer and a Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) official, holding them responsible for the tragedy.
