Tractor-trolley carrying labourers falls into 90-feet deep well; 7 dead

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Seven women farm labourers, two of them aged 18, died and three others were rescued after a tractor-trolley ferrying them to an agriculture field plunged into a well in Nanded district of Maharashtra on Friday morning, an official said.

The accident occurred at around 7.30 am in Asegaon village which lies under jurisdiction of Limbgaon police station when the vehicle veered off the road and fell into the nearly 90 feet deep well filled to the brim with water, said District Information Officer (DIO) Pravin Take said.

Police and local administration officials immediately launched a rescue operation and pumped out a large amount of water from the well, he said.

At the end of the operation, bodies of seven women were fished out of the well, while three others were rescued, said the DIO. “The woman were on their way to harvest turmeric at a farm. All those who died hailed from Gunj village under Vasmat tehsil in Hingoli district,” the official said.

The deceased were identified as Tarabai Satwaji Jadhav (35), Dhrupata Satwaji Jadhav (18), Saraswati Lakhan Burad (25), Simran Santosh Kamble (18), Chaitrabai Madhav Pardhe (45), Jyoti Irabaji Saraode (35), Sapna Tukaram Raut (25), he said.

Three other women farm labourers - Parvatibai Burad (35), Purbhabai Kamble (40), Satwaji Jadhav (55) -- were rescued from the water body.

The open well was nearly 90 feet deep and about 20 feet of water was pumped out with the help of electric motors to pull out the bodies and the tractor-trolley, another official said.

The well was filled to the brim and the tractor-trolley was not visible from outside, he said.

The rescue operation was carried out with the help of fire brigade, disaster management personnel and local villagers. A team of fire brigade personnel lifted out the tractor using a crane and belts, the official added.