SHILLONG: Three labourers from Umroi village, Ri Bhoi were drowned in a 60-foot deep ring well in Diengiong village, Mawdiangdiang in East Khasi Hills on Thursday morning.
Their bodies were recovered late in the evening by personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the Fire service.
Police said the incident happened around 10:30 am and the deceased have been identified as Banplielad Syiem (29), Lamphrang Lyngdoh (29) and Warless Kharsyntiew.
One of the labourers went down to untie a rope tied to the cemented wall ring, but probably due to toxic fumes emanating from the water pump, he felt dizzy and sought help.
Police said the water pump was earlier repaired and re-installed.
Sensing trouble, two other labourers went down to help him but all of them got stuck and eventually drowned.
The SDRF team and the Fire service personnel swung into action and after hours-long effort, the bodies were retrieved at 9.30 pm.
The workers were employed by contractor Kemel Marbaniang from Umroi and the well belonged to Marylis Mawrie of Diengiong village.
Police said there was difficulty in retrieving the bodies due to the rising water level and initially the rescue team tried to dewater the well by taking out water in buckets.
A police official said since some personnel were deployed in Raliang in West Jaintia Hills to recover the body of a boy drowned there, there was less manpower in the city to recover the bodies of the trio.
East Khasi Hills SP Claudia Lyngwa said the rescue teams took time to retrieve the bodies since the oxygen level inside the well was low.
“One of our personnel went down to pull out the bodies, but could not due to breathing problems”, Lyngwa said.
At one point of time, the East Khasi Hills police wanted to seek the help of NDRF personnel posted in Khanapara but finally the bodies were pulled out of the well with the assistance of SDRF and Fire service personnel.
