NEW DELHI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in Thursday's mishap inside a temple in central India has risen to 35, a senior police officer said on Friday.
Rescue work at the mishap site in Indore city of central state of Madhya Pradesh is still going on, as one person is reportedly missing, said the officer.
"Thirty-five bodies were retrieved till now with one person still missing. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Indian Army are conducting search and rescue," said the officer.
The accident occurred when the cover of a stepwell suddenly collapsed on Thursday. Till Thursday evening, 19 people had been rescued from the site and admitted to a local hospital. Rescue work went on overnight.
The state's Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced a compensation of 500,000 Indian rupees (around 6,086 U.S. dollars) to the families of each of those dead, and 50,000 Indian rupees (around 608 dollars) to each of the injured. ■