5 drown in well at Lokgram in Kalyan, 2 of them were firemen engaged in rescue ops
Two of the deceased were fire fighters who had gone to rescue the three men (Picture: Dr Binu Varghese)
Five people, including two firemen, drowned in a well at Kalyan in the neighbouring Thane district on Thursday afternoon.
According to preliminary information, a sanitation worker had gone to clean the well located next to Shree Bhimashankar Mahadev Mandir at Netivali in Lokgram area of Kalyan East.
When he failed to return after some time, two persons went inside to rescue him.
After they too failed to return, locals alerted Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) fire brigade, following which a team of fire officials was dispatched to the spot.
However, two firemen who went to rescue the men also drowned during the effort. The firemen were identified as Pramod Waghchore and Anant Shelar.
The identities of the other three men who had gone in the well earlier are not yet known.
Meanwhile, officials from the fire brigade, local police and Thane Disaster Response Force (TDRF) are working on recovering the bodies from the well.
Efforts to recover the bodies is underway as of publishing this report (Picture: Dr Binu Varghese)
Locals have alleged that the water in the well was chemically contaminated and poisonous because of which no one managed to return.
“The bodies will be sent for a post-mortem and samples of the water will be sent for chemical analysis,” a senior police official said.
Further details are awaited.
Update (5:40 pm)
Apart from the fire fighters, two other deceased have been identified as temple trustees Rahul Goswami and his father Gunwant Goswami.
Rahul had called the labourer to clean the well. When he did not come out, Rahul went in to look for him. When Rahul did not return, Gunwant went to rescue him. But, he also failed to return.
The fire brigade has managed to recover all five bodies from the well. “Prima facie, it seems like all five died after inhaling a gas or chemical in the well,” said Sanjay Shinde, Thane DCP (Zone 3).
The incident comes less than a week after three labourers had choked to death in a manhole at Dombivali. Before that, two women and a three-year-old child had drowned in a well at Vile Parle after its protective grill gave in.
