Varanasi DM, 2 NDRF men injured as wall collapses during flood relief work

Varanasi District Magistrate Surendra Singh and two NDRF personnel received minor injuries as a wall of a house collapsed when they were distributing flood relief materials in the Rajghat area on Thursday.

A video of the incident, circulating on social media, shows the officer and an NDRF personnel standing on the terrace of a house, which is partially submerged in floodwaters, during the relief works.

They had their weight on the the wall as they had to lean on it and stretch their hands to take food packets from NDRF personnel who were on a boat stationed in the floodwaters below.

They were then passing on the food materials to the residents on the roof.

The wall, which was not plastered and appeared half-built, came down crashing into the boat, bringing down the officer and the NDRF men with it.

But the officer regained his composure quickly and started throwing the bricks off the boat so that it does not go down in the water under the increased weight.

He then continued the relief works.

A medical team late on checked on the district magistrate at his residence and found no major injury, sources said.