In a tragic incident, a 37-year-old labourer cleaning a well asphyxiated to death while three others who tried to save him, also lost their lives at Durpang village in Chessa near here on Tuesday.
The deceased have been identified as Techi Kojum (24), Mani Kumar Deori (37), Ajay Chakma (28) and Sukroraju Chakma (38).
Capital superintendent of police Tumme Amo said the incident occurred at 10 am on Tuesday after one Techi Galo called Deori, one of the deceased, to clean his well at Durpang village.
“Deori who entered the well fainted after a while due to lack of sufficient oxygen. On seeing Deori faint, people started to call for help after which Techi Kojum (brother of Techi Galo) went inside to save him. Kojum, however, also fell unconscious in the process,” SP Amo said.
Following this one Ajay Chakma descended into the well with the help of a rope to save the others, but he too fell unconscious. As Ajay did not respond, his father Sukroraju Chakna made an attempt to get inside and he also fainted and could not come out, Amo said.
The SP said the series of deaths could have possibly occurred due to insufficient presence of oxygen inside the well.
The disaster response force from Narayanpur, Assam that came for the rescue operation also reported the lack of oxygen in the well, he said.
The SP further informed that the disaster response force with the police personnel from Narayanpur and Chessa outpost managed to recover two of the bodies till 3 pm while the process of retrieving the other two were on.
A case has been registered at the Banderdewa police station in this connection, Amo said.
