A pall of gloom descended on four villages in Bihar’s Katihar district as the news broke on Friday that five of its natives had died in the mishap at a building under construction in Pune.

Those deceased have been identified as Mohammed Tabiz Alam of Belon village, Mohammed Majloom Hussain and Sameer from Balthar village, Mobid Alam from Chandi and Sohil Mohammad from Bheelwari village.

Six others have been injured and are undergoing treatment.

“The incident has left us shattered,” said Mohammed Jehangir Alam of Balthar village.

Katihar’s additional district magistrate (ADM) Vijay Kumar said, “We are making arrangements to bring the bodies” adding by Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar expressed shock over the incident and announced ex gratia of ₹2 lakh each to the bereaved families and ₹50,000 for each of the injured, a press release said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too expressed grief over the tragic incident. In a tweet, he wrote “Pained by the mishap at an under-construction building in Pune. Condolences to the bereaved families. I hope that all those injured in this mishap recover at the earliest.”

In 2019, 12 labourers from Katihar were killed in Pune when the temporary house beside the under-construction building collapsed while they were asleep.