A woman and four children died in India's Uttar Pradesh state early Friday when a portion of a wall collapsed due to a troop of monkeys jumping on it.
The incident occurred in the city of Shahjahanpur when a family of seven was asleep in the courtyard of their house. Suddenly, some monkeys arrived and started jumping on the roof, bringing down a wall on the family. While one was injured, five others died in the attack.
The 42-year-old victim, Shabnam, was sleeping with her children Ruby (20), Shahbaz (5), Chandini (3), and Sahib (8), when the incident took place. Another son, 15-year-old Sahil, however, suffered serious injuries and has been hospitalised, confirmed District Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh.
According to the police, the family was fast asleep in the courtyard when the monkeys started jumping.
"We received a call from neighbours during the wee hours of Friday. People were taken out of the debris and rushed to hospital where five people, including four minors were declared dead-on-arrival," a senior city police officer said.
He further stated that one of the family members has suffered injuries.
"The neighbours have stated that the wall collapsed due to the monkeys but we are verifying the facts and will be acting appropriately on the finding," he said.
State Chief Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the accident and announced financial assistance of INR. 400,000 (about $5,320) to the family, an official spokesman from Lucknow said.