INDORE: Eight people suffocated to death in a well in MP’s Khandwa district after one person fell in, and the others went in, one by one, to rescue him.
No one came back up, and by the time rescuers could reach them, they all lay dead in the mud.
Kondawat village, which was celebrating Gangaur festival, is now shrouded in mourning. In fact, the eight men who died were trying to clean the well in preparation for Gangaur immersions.
Kondawat is around 120km south of Indore and 15km from the district headquarters. “A youth fell into the well in the afternoon after the rope broke. He got submerged in the muck and did not come up. Seeing this, one by one, seven other villagers jumped in to save each other but died. It is suspected that toxic gases that had accumulated inside the well led to suffocation and death,” said Khandwa SP Manoj Rai.
‘Well not used as source of drinking water’
Villagers alerted the administration and a 100-strong rescue party sped to Kondawat. Fifteen members of SDERF struggled for hours to reach the victims who had sunk into the mud.
The dead were identified as Rakesh, Vasudev, Arjun, Gajanand, Mohan, Ajay, Sharan, and Anil. The bodies have been sent to Khandwa district hospital for autopsy. Preliminary investigations suggest that a drainage channel from the village flows into the well, causing it to turn into a swamp over time. It is believed toxic gases were released due to the contamination.
“This well was used only for immersion of idols during festivals. It was not used as a source of drinking water,” said an official. Collector Rishav Gupta said a compensation of Rs 4 lakh will be handed over to the family members of each victim.
