Five drown after entering abandoned well to rescue cat in Ahmednagar

Police said the tragedy took place when one of them entered the well to rescue a cat which had fallen in it and others followed suit in an effort to rescue him as he got trapped.

"We have cordoned off the area and have deployed suction pumps for the search operation,” said Inspector Jadhav. (Screengrab from ANI)

FIVE men drowned in a well filled with slurry of cattle excrement on a farm in a village in Ahmednagar district on Tuesday afternoon. Their bodies were recovered on early hours of Wednesday, said Inspector Dhananjay Jadhav of Nevasa police station.

Police said the tragedy took place when one of them entered the well to rescue a cat which had fallen in it and others followed suit in an effort to rescue him as he got trapped.

District police officials said the incident took place around 3.30 pm in Vakadi village in Nevasa taluka, located nearly 200 kilometres from Pune and 70 kilometres from Ahmednagar district headquarters.

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“Initial information suggests that a cat had fallen into an abandoned well filled with slurry of animal waste. One person entered to rescue the cat and fell into the slurry. Others went in one after the other for the rescue. Preliminary information suggests that six persons had fallen. One of them was taken out and rushed to a local hospital,” said Rakesh Ola, Superintendent of Police, Ahmednagar.

All six were local farmers and the condition of the rescued farmer is presently stable, added Inspector Jadhav.

The five men have been identified as Manik Kale (65), Manik’s son Sandeep (36), Anil Kale (53), Anil’s son Bablu (28) and Babasaheb Gaikwad (36). One person who was taken out has been identified as Manik’s younger son Vijay (35).

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