Silchar (Assam), May 20 (IANS): At least three persons succumbed due to suffocation inside a well in Assam’s Cachar district, officials said on Monday.

The incident happened in the Phoolertal area under Lakhipur Police Station in the Cachar district.

The deceased have been identified as Monojit Deb (35), Prosenjit Deb (28) and Amit Sen (27). Police said that Monojit and Prosenjit are siblings while Amit is their neighbour.

“We have been utilising the well for drinking water. However, a hen fell inside it and Monojit Deb wanted to clean the well and take out the carcass of the hen,” the family members of the deceased said adding that Prosenjit Deb and Amit Sen went inside the well to rescue Monojit, but unfortunately, they did not come out of alive.

Sankar Deb, younger brother of deceased Monojit Deb said, “We cleaned the well once, but at around 8 PM on Sunday, my brother saw something inside and tried to bring it out, but he fell unconscious immediately after going down.”

He added, “They may have been exposed to some poisonous gas because the well was deep.”

The Superintendent of Police (SP) for the Cachar district, Numal Mahatta, rushed to the scene and promptly contacted the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).

Mahatta said that the unconscious people were pulled out from the well by the SDRF and brought to the Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH), where the doctors declared them brought dead.

“As per the preliminary findings, they may have suffocated to death,” the police officer added.