8-year-old boy dies as temple wall collapses in UP

Lucknow, Feb 14 (IANS) An 8-year-old boy was killed in Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday when a wall of an overcrowded temple collapsed during the festival of Maha Shivaratri, police said.

The deceased, identified as Ankit, was accompanied by his father Edal Singh who had gone to the temple for 'jalabhishek' (pouring water) on the Shivalinga at a temple in Manipur village.

According to the police, Singh had brought water from Sankra Ghat and had gone to the temple with his son for the Shivaratri celebrations when all of a sudden the peripheral wall of the temple collapsed due to the huge crowd. Ankit, a Class III student, was buried in the rubble.

The body has been sent for post-mortem.

Ankit was the eldest of his three brothers. His father is a daily wager.