3 men die of asphyxiation in Perungudi, 3 others rescued

One of the three men who died was the son of the house owner, said the police. They identified the deceased as Santhosh Kumar, 32, son of the house owner, Kalidas, 35 and Anbalagan, 35 along with three other men were cleaning the well which remained unused for last few months.

The police said, the owner of the house Kannappan, had hired five men — Raji, 35, Sekar, 30, Govindan, 29, Kalidas and Anbalagan from the same locality to clean the well situated at the back of his house. Subash, who was supervising the work, found the six of them, including his son inside the well had fall unconscious and immediately alerted the fire and rescue control room.

The fire tenders rushed to the spot and rescued three men and sent them to the hospital, and retrieved bodies of the three others. The rescue operation lasted for about two hours and four to five fire tenders were engaged in the rescue mission.

The bodies of the deceased were shifted to government hospital for post mortem and three others are undergoing treatment at the hospital. The Thuraipakkam police have registered a case against Subash and further investigations are on. Police are checking if safety measures were followed when cleaning of the well was taken up.