Of the 22 deaths, 13 were reported from Unnao, 3 from Fatehpur, 2 from Prayagraj, and 1 each from Sitapur, Raebareli and Jhansi.
Speaking on the Lucknow wall collapse Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Piyush Mordia said, "Some labourers were living in huts outside the Army enclave in the Dilkusha area. Owing to heavy overnight rains, the boundary wall of the Army enclave collapsed".
Mordia added, "We reached the spot around 3 am. Nine bodies were pulled out from the debris. One person was rescued alive".
While ACP Anup Kumar Singh who was also present on the spot said, "As we reached the spot 15 minutes after the message was passed on to the police station, our first priority and effort was to locate the person who had made the call to the control room, and pull him out from the debris".
The only survivor of the Lucknow incident was a man named Golu who made the call to the police from under the rubble. He was later admitted to Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital. Reports indicate all the deceased persons were from the Jhansi district.
Various dignitaries including President Droupadi Murmu, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed their grief over the incident.
President Murmu took to Twitter to share her condolences, she wrote, "I am deeply saddened by the news of death of people due to a wall collapse in Lucknow. My condolences to the bereaved families. I wish the injured a speedy recovery".
Separately, the Uttar Pradesh government has announced financial assistance of ₹4 lakh each to the family of the deceased while Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who represents the Lucknow Cantonment assembly constituency in the state assembly, visited the site and later Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital to take stock of the injured persons.
Other places in the state also received similar reports of deaths due to wall collapses and other incidents due to heavy overnight rains.
Uttar Pradesh has been witnessing heavy rains since Thursday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) says the state received 32.2 mm average rainfall on Friday which is 428% higher than the LPA (Long Period Average) of 6.1 mm and that 74 out of 75 districts received rainfalls on Friday.
Districts that received highest rainfall include Barabanki (192.7 mm), Lucknow (116.9 mm), Mau (110 mm), Bahraich (108 mm), Deoria (78.5 mm) Balrampur (64 mm), Ballia (63.9 mm), Lakhimpur Kheri (58.7mm), Jhansi (51), Unnao (14.7 mm) and Prayagraj (8.4 mm)
With inputs from PTI
