Mathura: Four students died and another was left critically injured after five boys entered a 12-foot-deep water tank at Vrindavan Gurukulam in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district, officials said. The presence of poisonous gas inside the tank is suspected to have caused the incident.
The incident was reported from the limits of Vrindavan police station at the residential institution, where children live and study. The tank reportedly began emitting a foul odour, following which the students went inside to clean it.
Police said one boy entered the tank first but did not return. Four other students then went in after him, but none of them emerged. People present at the institution subsequently managed to pull all five students out.
The students were rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared four of them dead. The fifth student remains under treatment in a critical condition.
Police personnel have been deployed at the site, while authorities are examining the circumstances surrounding the incident, as reported by ap7am.com. The suspected presence of toxic gas inside the tank is also being investigated.
Senior Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar said the incident occurred in the Vrindavan police station area, where the residential educational institution is located.
“A short while ago, information was received that in the Vrindavan police station area, there is an institution named Vrindavan Gurukulam, a residential setup where children stay and study,” Kumar said.
He said the water tank located inside the institution had been giving off a foul smell and that some students entered it in an attempt to clean it.
“Inside this institution, there is a water tank that was emitting a foul smell. To clean it, some students went inside,” the SSP said.
Kumar said the first student who entered the tank failed to come out, prompting four others to follow him inside. When they too did not return, people at the institution began rescue efforts and pulled the students out.
“First, one boy went inside, but he didn’t come out. Following him, four more boys went inside. When they also failed to come out, the people present there made efforts and somehow pulled them out,” he said.
Investigators are working to determine what caused the students to lose consciousness inside the tank. The exact cause of death will be established after further examination, while more details are awaited.