A 60-year-old French woman met with a fatal accident allegedly after falling from a 5-8 feet high platform in the Fatehpur Sikri complex on Thursday.
Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI, Agra Circle, Raj Kumar Patel, shared details of the incident with PTI, stating, “The woman tourist fell from the platform at Khwabgah in the Fatehpur Sikri complex. The incident happened as the railing fell due to pressure when tourists were taking selfies or photos.”
According to Patel, the railing, constructed from wood, broke under the pressure exerted by tourists attempting to capture selfies and photographs.
He also noted that the railing had been installed post Covid-19 pandemic and had displayed signs of instability for several months leading up to the fatal incident.
The woman, part of a group of approximately 30 tourists, fell unconscious upon landing on the red stone platform. Although there were no immediate signs of bleeding, it is suspected that she sustained a head injury during the fall.
Reports suggest that there was a delay in first aid. The situation was worsened by the late arrival of the ambulance.
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A local tour guide told India Today that the ambulance, which reached the site late, was summoned from Kiraoli town, situated 15 km away from Fatehpur Sikri. The response time for the ambulance to reach the scene was a lengthy 45 minutes, as confirmed by the authorities at the Fatehpur Sikri police station.
Deepak Daan, President of the Tourist Guides Welfare Association, Agra, expressed concern over the incident’s handling, remarking, “The incident raises a question mark on the emergency medical facilities because no ambulance was readily available when the tourist was lying unconscious on the ground. A shabby ambulance came, that too after about an hour.”
In response to the incident, Agra District Magistrate Bhanu Chandra Goswami has initiated a magisterial probe to investigate the matter thoroughly.
(With inputs from PTI)