A mother and four of her children were crushed to death at their home in India after a wall was brought down by a troop of monkeys.

The five victims were killed by falling masonry after the wall was ‘violently shaken’ by monkeys while the family slept in the courtyard, the Times of India reports.

The family was sleeping outside because their indoor ceiling fan was not working amid scorching weather in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Two other children survived in what authorities called a ‘tragic incident’ as they offered to pay compensation to the family.

A woman and her four children died while one sustained critical injuries after a part of the wall collapsed on them by a troop of monkeys in Shahjahanpur city. All seven members of the family were sleeping in the courtyard.
@Benarasiyaa @Uppolice pic.twitter.com/y6Vs8rMpqB

— Kanwardeep singh (@KanwardeepsTOI) July 17, 2020

Friday’s freak accident was the latest in a long line of monkey-related tragedies in India, which is thought to be home to around 50million of the primates.

Last August, a 50-year-old man died in Sambhal after falling from a terrace at his home when he was attacked by a troop of monkeys.

Reports at the time said it was the sixth monkey-related death in Sambhal during 2019 alone.