13 Women, Girls Die While Dancing at Wedding

Thirteen women and girls died while singing and dancing at a wedding as a concrete slab covering an abandoned village well collapsed under their weight in northern India, an official said Thursday. Ten other villagers were injured as they also fell into the well and were hospitalized in Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh state on Wednesday night, said Magistrate S. Rajalingam. The well was more than 50 feet deep, said Muralidhar Singh, a rescuer. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet described the incident as heart-rending and prayed for the swift recovery of the injured, the AP reports. Authorities are investigating the incident in the village, which is about 200 miles east of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state. (More India stories.)