Two die of asphyxiation, eight fall sick

Kahalgaon, Apr 1 (UNI) At least two people died and eight fell sick due to asphyxiation when they were cleaning an old well at Mathurapur village in Bhagalpur district yesterday.

District Magistrate Bipin Kumar said the labourers had been engaged for desilting and cleaning the well under a government scheme last evening. When some labourers who went down the well did not come out, the other labourers also entered the well one by one but much to the worry of villagers and government officials who were supervising the work, no one came out, he added.

Later all those trapped inside the well were taken out. While one labourer died of suffocation inside the well, another died on way to hospital, he said.

Mr Kumar said eight other labourers who fell unconscious had been admitted to Bhagalpur Medical College Hospital.

UNI XC RS KK SS1344