NEW DELHI: At least 15 people, including four children, were killed when a wall collapsed on shacks outside an apartment complex in western India, police said.

Most of those who died were sleeping when the 3 metre (10-foot) high brick wall came crashing down on several tin cabins built for a group of labourers who had work at a nearby construction site, according to police.

Two people were also injured in the accident and are "undergoing treatment at a hospital," a local police official told AFP.

He said a search was on to find any survivors.

The shacks, located in the city of Pune in Maharashtra state, were mostly occupied by migrant workers from India's north.

Authorities have ordered an inquiry into the incident and announced a cash compensation to the families of those killed.

The city has seen two days of heavy rains.

India's millions of labourers and their families often live either on construction sites or in temporary huts nearby to save on accommodation costs.

It is the latest in a series of deadly building accidents in India that mostly occur during the rainy season that runs from June to September.

More than a dozen devotees were killed on Sunday after a tent collapsed on them during a religious event in western Rajasthan state.

In 2017, a wall collapsed collapse onto guests celebrating a wedding in Rajasthan state, killing two dozen people. —AFP