Visakhapatnam: The most tragic incident occurred in the history of ‘Chandanotsavam’ festival in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Following heavy rains and winds for some time, a wall got collapsed at Simhachalam Devasthanam claiming eight lives and leaving three others injured.

Of the deceased, five were men and three women. At around 2:15 am, heavy rain followed by gales occurred at Simhachalam uphill. During that time, a portion of the newly built wall for the Rs.300 ticket queue line collapsed. The collapsed wall claimed seven people on the spot, while one died undergoing treatment in the hospital.

Teams from NDRF and SDRF rushed to the spot to carry out rescue operations. They recovered seven bodies at the incident spot.

District Collector MN Harendhira Prasad and City Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi rushed to the spot to monitor the rescue operation.

A tense atmosphere prevailed as the NDRF and SDRF teams searched for victims along the collapsed wall.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha and Visakhapatnam MP M Sribharat reached Simhachalam to monitor the condition.

Meanwhile, to avoid inconvenience to the devotees, the queue line wherein the incident took place was diverted.