At least 18 persons, including 14 children, died in separate rain-related mishaps across Madhya Pradesh in the past 24 hours.

In a tragic incident on Sunday morning, nine children were killed and two were seriously injured after a dilapidated wall collapsed on them due to heavy rain in the Sagar district of the state Sunday morning.

According to the police, the tragedy occurred during a Bhaagwat Katha and clay Shivling preparation event inside the Hardaul Temple in Shahpur of the Sagar district.

While the children were busy preparing the Shivlings, a wall of an adjoining house, said to be more than 50 years old, came crashing down on them.

The deceased children have been identified as Divyansh Sahu (12), Vansh Lodhi (10), Nitesh Patel (13), Dhruv Yadav (12), Parv Vishwakarma (10), Divyaraj Sahu 12), Ashutosh Prajapati (15) and Khushi Patwa (12) and Hemant (10).

Two children were seriously injured in the incident.

According to Sagar Collector Deepak Arya, of the nine deceased, two kids died on the spot.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, in his condolence message, expressed grief over the incident. He announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to each of the families of the deceased children.

In another incident on Sunday, five youths from Nagpur in Maharashtra were swept away the car they were travelling in fell into swelling Katta River in the Chhindwara district of the state.

According to the police, the youths were on their way to attend the Nagdwari fair in the district when the mishap occurred. The police and rescue workers were able to save the lives of four youths while one was swept away with the vehicle.

The missing person was identified as Shailesh Kushwaha. His four friends, who were rescued, were identified as Milind Parate, Ketan Dekate, Vikram Atav and Nikhil Somkunwar.

In another case of wall collapse in the Rewa district, four children, including a brother-sister, were killed along with a woman who was the mother of one of the kids.

According to the police, the mishap occurred in village Garh when the kids on their way home after school on Saturday evening came near a dilapidated wall. The wall caved in trapping the five children and the mother of one of them under its debris.