The family had gone out into their courtyard to sleep due to the scorching temperatures in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, when the troop of primates shook the wall.
A mum and her four children were “immediately” crushed to death after wild monkeys knocked down a wall next to where they were sleeping.
The family were in the courtyard outside their home when a wall belonging to the neighbouring property was “violently shaken” by the troop of primates, the Times of India reports.
Two other children are understood to have survived the incident in Wazib Khel, Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, early on Friday.
The woman, named only as Shabnam, aged 45, and all six children are said to have gone outside to sleep because of the scorching temperatures, after their ceiling fan broke. Her children’s ages were given as 20, nine, seven and three. An 11-year-old child suffered head injuries, while another, aged 5, was uninjured, according to reports.
The Times of India shared a video of a young boy being interviewed with a bandage wrapped around his head. District magistrate Vikram Singh met the survivors along with Shahjahanpur senior superintendent of police S. Anand.
He said: “It was a tragic incident and five members of the family died immediately after the wall collapsed on them. We have ensured the best possible treatment for the survivor.”
He added that the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has offered 400,000 rupees (£4,200) in compensation to the family.
Police said a guava tree in the courtyard often attracted monkeys who would jump up to it from a dilapidated wall. Shabnam’s husband is understood to have died two years ago and the family had been living with her father.
It is the latest in a number of monkey-related human deaths and incidents in India – including an attack on a medical officer in which coronavirus patients’ blood samples were stolen in Meercut.
In August last year, a man, 50, died after monkeys knocked him from a terrace in what was the sixth monkey-related death in Sambhal in 2019.
Environmentalists believe monkeys are moving into urban areas in search of food because their natural habitats are being destroyed.
