“Thirty-five people are dead. One person is still missing. Rescue operations are on,” Indore district magistrate Ilayaraja T. told AFP by phone.

More than 25 worshippers plunged into the stepwell – a stair-lined communal water source – after the floor covering it collapsed in the central city of Indore.

“Police recovered 11 bodies from the well and two people succumbed to their injuries at the hospital,” Narottam Mishra, Madhya Pradesh home minister, told reporters.

Mishra said an investigation had been launched into the mishap and the families of the dead would be compensated.

Police official Manish Kapooriya told AFP rescue efforts were continuing and that the injured were moved to government hospitals for treatment.

Television footage showed emergency workers using ropes and ladders to reach those trapped in the well in Madhya Pradesh state.

Other videos showed the caved-in floor and mangled steel bars, and policemen using ropes to seal the area.

Temples across India were brimming with devotees on the occasion of Ram Navami, the birthday of the Hindu deity Lord Ram.