Gonda (Uttar Pradesh): Five people died here Tuesday after being exposed to toxic gas in a well where locals dump garbage, police said. The incident took place at Raja Mohalla in the Kotwali police station area. The five people were trying to rescue a calf that fell into the well. Additional Superintendent of Police Mahendra Kumar said it was an old and unused well.
“Tuesday afternoon, a calf fell into the well. A man got down using a ladder to pull out the calf,” Kumar said. “When the calf was rescued, the man fainted after inhaling toxic gas. Four other people went down to bring him back but they too fainted,” he added.
The ASP said police, fire brigade and local civic body personnel pulled them out after much effort. “They were taken to the district hospital where doctors declared them dead. The deceased have been identified as Vaibhav (18), Dinesh (30), Ravi Shankar (36), Vishnu Dayal (35) and Mannu Saini (36),” the ASP informed.
Police have sent bodies for a post-mortem examination.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the deaths. He announced a financial assistance of Rs 2,00,000 for the family of each deceased.
