Jharkhand: Father and son die of suffocation in well while trying to retrieve 'lota'

A father and son tragically suffocated to death after entering a well to retrieve a small metal pot in Jharkhand’s Palamu district on Monday.

The incident occurred in Sahiyara village, where 65-year-old Jugal Rajwar and his son Munna, 37, died after attempting to retrieve a stainless steel ‘lota’ — a small, rounded water vessel — that had fallen into a well filled with decayed mahua fruits and debris.

According to locals, Munna first lowered himself into the well with a rope to fetch the pot.


But while climbing back up, he fell unconscious and fell back into the well. Jugal then entered the well in a bid to rescue his son, but also fell unconscious due to the toxic gases.

“It was a challenging task to extract the bodies from a narrow, dirt-filled well,” said Sonu Kumar Choudhury, Officer in Charge of Hussainabad Police Station.

“Terrified villagers refused to enter even with safety gear. The bodies were finally pulled out using an iron rod and rope," Choudhary added.

The well was subsequently filled in with soil to avoid future accidents.

(With inputs from ToI)