Maharashtra: Five including two fire officials drown in well sludge

At least five people died while cleaning a well in Thane's Kalyan on Thursday, Additional Commissioner of Police Pratap Dighavkar said. 

The deceased was taken out from the well and rescue operations were underway till late evening on Thursday.

A labourer entered the well to clean it and died due to suffocation. Two trustees and two fire officials who went inside to rescue to labourer also died during the operation, Dighavkar confirmed. 

At least four bodies have been taken out of the well. A sample of water from well has been collected for chemical analysis.

"We've taken a sample from a nearby gutter as well which may have sulphur content," Dighavkar said. 

"It appears that gas was collected in the well as it was closed since many days," Dighavkar added. 

According to an official of the Kolshewadi Police Station, the incident occurred around 2 p.m. when one person went inside a well to clean it up but got trapped in the slime below.

Shortly afterwards, a team of divers with safety belts, ropes, oxygen cylinders and masks, got down in the well and managed to fish out the body of one of the cleaners.

The cleaner has been identified as Rahul Gosavi and the two firemen who perished are Pramod Waghchire and Anand Shelar, said the official.

According to locals, the well is located near a nallah in Netivali area from where a lot of dirty water with chemicals flows regularly, polluting the well water.

The cleaning operation was taken up to make the well water fit for non-drinking purposes for the locals.