5 Dead After Inhaling Suspected Toxic Gas Inside Well in Chhattisgarh

Janjgir-Champa: In a tragic incident, five people were allegedly asphyxiated after inhaling suspected toxic gases inside a well in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district on Friday morning, said police. The incident was reported in Kikirda village which falls under the jurisdiction of the Birra police station area.

The deceased have been identified as Ramchandra Jaiswal, Ramesh Patel, Rajendra Patel, Jitendra Patel and Tikeshwar Chandra, news agency PTI reported citing Inspector General of Police (Bilaspur Range) Sanjeev Shukla.

Preliminary probe revealed that Jaiswal entered the well to take out a wooden strip after it fell into it. When he fainted, his family member screamed for help following which three others from the Patel family entered the well Shukla said.

When all four did not return, Chandra also entered the well but he also fainted, following which locals alerted police.

A team of State Disaster Response Forces (SDRF) has been roped in to fish out the bodies from the well.

“Prima facie it seems that they died after inhaling some poisonous gas inside the well,” he said. Further probe in the matter is underway.