11 dead in MP well collapse, 19 rescued as search ends

MP well collapse
People look on during a rescue operation after several people fell into a well during the rescue of a girl who had fallen into it, at Lal Patthar in Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha district on Friday. PTI

Eleven bodies were recovered and 19 persons were brought out alive from a well in which several people had fallen while trying to rescue a boy in Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha district, a minister said Friday night as the rescue operations ended.

The last body retrieved from the well was that of the boy, he said. The incident took place on Thursday night when the parapet wall of the well in Lal Patar village in Ganj Basoda area, 50 km from Vidisha, gave way. To make things worse, a tractor deployed for the rescue operation skidded into the well with four policemen.

A total of eleven bodies were retrieved while 19 people were pulled out alive, state Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang told PTI from the spot late at night. The rescue operation was over and all the missing persons were accounted for, Sarang, who is also the district's guardian minister, said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced in the morning that families of the deceased will be given financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each, while the injured will be provided Rs 50,000 each and free medical treatment.

According to local people, the well is around 50 feet deep and had about 20 feet of water. Ravi, a teenage boy, fell into the well on Thursday night.

While some people climbed down to rescue him, others were standing on the surrounding parapet wall to help them. They were thrown into the water when the wall crashed, eye witnesses said.

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.