Two people have lost their lives and five others have been injured this Saturday when a statue of the god Ganesh, nearly seven meters tall, collapsed during the festival in honor of this deity in the south of the city of Bombay, in India.
The incident occurred around 10:00 PM (local time) on Balaram Merchant Road, in the Bhuleshwar district, one of the areas where this celebration traditionally takes place in Bombay.
According to information provided by local authorities and collected by the national agency NDTV, the structure collapsed because some nuts and bolts were loose. After the collapse, emergency services immediately arrived at the scene of the incident.
Authorities have stated that the victims were urgently evacuated to nearby hospitals for treatment, where doctors certified the death of two of them. The deceased have been identified as Sanket Nevshe, 33 years old, and Brijesh Hemant Joshi, 30 years old.
The other five injured have been identified as Vaibhav Ghenand, 38 years old, and Pawan Chaurasia, 25 years old, who are receiving treatment at GT Hospital, and Lavanya Ganer, five years old, Divya Ganer, seven, and Kunal Kashid, 26 years old, who are being treated at JJ Hospital. According to the same sources, all the injured are currently in stable condition.
In Mumbai, Ganeshotsav —a ten-day Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of the god Ganesh— is one of the most important and crowded festivities in India. During these days, devotees bring images of Ganesh to their homes or to the pandals, temporary structures set up for the celebration, where they perform welcome and worship ceremonies. The largest figure dedicated to the god is also located in Bombay and reaches approximately 14 meters in height.