NEWS: India
DRAMA IN KUSHINAGAR (UTTAR PRADESH)
13 dead after falling into a well.

13 peo­ple died after falling into a well dur­ing a wed­ding cer­e­mo­ny in the north­ern Indi­an state of Uttar Pradesh.

Police said the vic­tims — all women and chil­dren — were sit­ting on a met­al slab cov­er­ing the well when it col­lapsed under their weight.

Prime Min­is­ter Naren­dra Modi called the deaths “heart­break­ing.”

The tragedy occurred Wednes­day night dur­ing the tra­di­tion­al “hal­di” cer­e­mo­ny, in which rel­a­tives apply turmer­ic paste to the faces of the bride and groom as a sign of prosperity.

When the slab broke, oth­er guests ran to res­cue the vic­tims and took them to a near­by hos­pi­tal. While 11 peo­ple were pro­nounced dead imme­di­ate­ly, two oth­ers died lat­er dur­ing treat­ment, police said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Min­is­ter Yogi Adityanath asked dis­trict author­i­ties to help the fam­i­lies of the victims.