PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Haldwani
Three members of a family—a 55-year-old woman and her two sons—died of suspected asphyxiation after inhaling toxic gas inside an underground water tank at their home at Manpur village in Gaulapar area of Haldwani. The three deceased were identified as Saraswati Devi, Dharmendra Bisht and Khushal Bisht.
As per the villagers, the eldest son of Saraswati, Dharmendra, entered the newly constructed, underground tank in their house’s basement to remove its wooden shuttering on Tuesday evening. He fell unconscious after inhaling the toxic fumes. Later, his younger brother, Khushal went inside to rescue him but he fell victim to the gas. Seeing both her sons disappearing inside the tank, their mother, Saraswati Devi went into the tank to save them. She collapsed, too. Thereafter, another entered the tank, but did not emerge.
On hearing screams, villagers rushed to the spot, broke open the tank’s cemented cover and pulled all four people out. They were rushed to Dr Sushila Tiwari Government Hospital, where the mother and two sons were declared dead.
According to the villagers, Dharam Singh went down to remove the shuttering from the water tank at around 7 PM on Tuesday. Then, within a few minutes, the other two deaths occurred.
A villager Anil Negi said that the tank had been closed for a long time, causing toxic gas to accumulate inside. “The family has two children,” he added.
The administrative officials said that although asphyxiation seemed to have caused the death, the actual cause would be determined after the post-mortem and investigation report were received.
