Nagpur: In a tragic incident, four persons died of suffocation in a small well, one after the another, after the first one among them had entered the well for motor pump repairing. The incident took place at 9 am on Wednesday in Sarandi village of Tirora tehsil in Gondia district.
The deceased have been identified as Khemraj Giridhari Sathawane (44), his neighbours Prakash Sadashiv Bhongade (40), Sachin Yashwant Bhongade (28) and Mahendra Sukhram Raut (34).
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As per information given by Police Inspector Devidas Kathale (Tirora), as water level in wells goes up during monsoon, Khemraj wanted to lift up the motor pump installed in the well at his home. He entered the well but just at the depth of some 20 feet, he started feeling dizzy and fell into the water. Seeing this his brother, who was monitoring from above, raised an alarm for help. Khemraj’s neighbours rushed in to his rescue. Prakash Bhongade was the first one to enter the well but he too fell unconscious midway and dropped into the water. After him, Sachin Bhongade and later Mahendra Raut also met the same fate as they entered the well one after the other.
News about the tragedy spread fast in the village and a huge crowd gathered at the spot. The Tirora Police team led by SDPO Pramod Madame and PI Devidas Kathale, joined by Tehsilder GS Kokkurde also rushed to the spot. In the meantime, villagers had already fished out the bodies with the help of an anchor. The victims were rushed to the hospital where doctors declared all four dead.
Initially, people thought that Sathawane and the others had died of electrocution due to the motor pump. But PI Kathale said that all four died due to suffocation. Kathale said that it is common practice for villagers to place the water pumps in their wells deep during summer and they lift them at the beginning of rainy season.
It may be mentioned here that the well had very small diameter and oxygen level dropped drastically at around 20 feet inside the well because of which Khemraj fell unconscious and fell down into the water, informed PI Kathale.
Tirora MLA Vijay Rahangdale, who was in Mumbai at the time, took information about the incident over the phone. He spoke with the authorities and on behalf of him, APMC Chairman Jitendra Rahangdale, Zilla Parishad members Adv Madhuri Rahangdale,RajniKumbreand Niraj Sonawane visited the aggrieved families and handed over some financial aid. Former MLA Dilip Bansod and others also visited the spot.
