Three die after drowning in well

Three persons died after drowning in a well in two separate incidents in the capital city Monday.

According to police, Hem Bahadur Rai, 42, a resident of Khotang district who was working as a daily wage laborer in the capital and Nar Bahadur BK, 20, of Gorkha district died after drowning in the well built inside the premises of Laxmi Maya Maharjan's house in Khadipakha, Maharajgunj.

In an incident reminiscent of one that happened in Pokhara about a month back where a 14-year-old boy had saved a little girl by bringing her out from a deep gorge of Seti river where she had fallen into, Nar Bahadur, a student of intermediate (higher secondary) level in Saraswoti Campus, Sorrahkhutte went inside the 160 ft deep well without any safety equipments after he heard Rai drowning at 9:30 am. However, the daring attempt turned into a tragedy after Nar Bahadur also died in his rescue bid. Rai had gone inside the well to clean it.

After repeated attempts to rescue the two by police and army team proved futile, a team of firemen of Juddha Barun Yantra finally succeeded in bringing the two persons out from the well in an unconscious state two hours after they had gone inside the well.

The two were then rushed to TU Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj where doctors immediately declared them dead. Doctors suspected that they might have died after inhaling poisonous gas produced inside the well.

In a similar incident, an Indian citizen D N Sah, 30, also died after going into a well belonging to Birendra Karmacharya in Bhatbhateni in a bid to rescue fellow Indian citizen, Gorang Panda, 42, who almost drowned while cleaning the well. Panda is currently undergoing treatment at TU Teaching Hospital.

All three bodies have been kept at TU Teaching Hospital for post mortem. nepalnews.com ag July 22 08