At least four people died and many were injured after they fell into a 40-feet-deep well in Ganj Basoda of Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha distict late on Thursday during a rescue operation to pull out a child, officials said on Friday. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Fridays the state government has decided that financial assistance of ₹5 lakh will be provided to the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 and free treatment will be given to the injured.
“Minister in charge of Vidisha @VishvasSarang Ji was present at the spot throughout the night as the representative of the state government. Under his supervision, the rescue teams are engaged in rescuing the trapped people. The team of Commissioner, IG, Collector, SP, NDRF, SDRF is helping people at the spot,” Chouhan said in a series of tweets in Hindi.
MP’s medical education minister Vishvas Kailash Sarang, who was sent by Chouhan to Ganj Basoda, said 19 people have been rescued after they fell into a well on Thursday night during a rescue operation to pull out a 10-year-old boy, who fell into the well while playing.
Earlier, Chouhan extended his condolences over the loss of lives in the accident and said rescue work is still underway. “Have received information that two people have lost their lives in Ganjbasoda. Their bodies have been recovered. I pay homage to those who lost their lives in the accident and pray to God to give peace to the departed souls. The rescue work is still on and I am continuously monitoring the situation,” Chouhan tweet, roughly translated from Hindi, read.
Also watch | How rescue op of a child turned fatal for several onlookers who fell into a 40 feet well
The dead and the injured were among the nearly 40 people, who gathered to watch rescuers trying to pull out the boy. Bhopal division’s additional director general of police Sai Manohar said as people were trying to rescue the boy the well’s boundary wall caved in and they fell into it.
MP’s medical education minister Sarang said shortly before midnight that about 23 people were rescued and 13 have been admitted to the hospital. Sarang, the guardian minister of Vidisha district 50 km from the state capital of Bhopal, said he has ordered a high-level probe into the accident.
The condition of the child is not nkown.
According to earlier reports, the rescue operation was suspended for some time after a tractor being used by them also fell into the well. Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the state-level disaster response force were involved in pulling out people from the well.
