BAHAWALNAGAR: Three brothers died while two other labourers fell unconscious after inhaling poisonous gas while digging a well at Chak 138, Muraad Dahranawal here on Sunday evening.

District Officer (Emergency) Rao Sharafat told Dawn that three brothers Munir, 20, Shakeel, 23, and Dastageer, 27, were hired by a landlord to dig and clean a well. He said the labourers fell unconscious after inhaling poisonous gases and died on the spot. Two others, Akbar and Ajmal, immediately went inside the well to rescue them but they also fell unconscious.

After receiving information about the incident, rescue personnel with the help of villagers took the bodies and injured out of the well. The unconscious labourers were shifted to hospital from where both of them were referred to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital of Bahawalpur because of their critical condition, Sharafat said.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2021