Shillong: Five persons, including two siblings, died due to suffocation from toxic gases inside a well at a private construction site in the Lapalang area of Shillong on Friday evening, police informed on Saturday.The victims included two brothers who tried to rescue workers who were trapped inside the flooded well.East Khasi Hills SP Vivek Syiem said the incident occurred around 7.30pm on Friday when four labourers were pumping out water from the well. The brothers, who were from the same locality, responded immediately to calls for help by one of the workers who had managed to climb outside. Both, however, also got suffocated while trying to assist the others out of the well, the SP said.According to preliminary reports, a diesel-engine pump, which emitted high levels of carbon monoxide, was being used to drain water out of the well.On receiving information, a State Rescue Team (SRT) took the five persons out of the well and rushed them to the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), where they were all declared “brought dead.”Police have registered a case of unnatural death in this connection at the Rynjah police station.The SP said the exact cause of the deaths would be ascertained on receiving the post-mortem reports.
