BHOPAL: A speeding van boarded by 13 devotees bound to a Goddess Temple, plunged into a well in Narayangarh area of western Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district, killing 11 people on Sunday afternoon.
Ten of the deceased, including four women, were devotees traveling to the Aantri Mata Temple in Neemuch district from the Ratlam and Ujjain districts. Another victim, identified as 40-year-old Manohar Singh, was a local resident of Mandsaur district who likely succumbed to poisonous gas while attempting to rescue devotees trapped inside the well.
According to the deputy inspector general of police (DIG-Ratlam Range) Manoj Kumar Singh, “A van was speeding with 13 devotees on board, when it hit a motorcycle, killing the bike rider on the spot. After that the van’s driver wildly sped the car and lost control, leading in the vehicle plunging into the well in an agricultural plot near the road at Kachariya Chaupati.”
“Out of the 13 people boarding the vehicle, four were rescued alive from the well, nine others couldn’t be saved. Eight of the nine bodies have been retrieved, while one resident, Manohar Singh who had climbed into the well to save lives, too, died inside the same well,” Singh said.
The retrieved bodies included six men and four women, aged between 25 and 65 years. Among the deceased, including the van driver, were individuals from various parts of Ujjain, Ratlam, and Mandsaur districts in western Madhya Pradesh.
Out of the four injured who have been hospitalised, two are children, including three-year-old Priyanshi, who has lost her father Balram (26) in the mishap and 12-year-old Devendra, whose 35-year-old mother Madhu died in the mishap.
Upon learning about the tragic accident, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Jagdish Dewda, who also serves as the BJP MLA from Mandsaur district, rushed to the spot and personally supervised the rescue operations, including the retrieval of the van and the bodies from the well using a giant crane.
“Its very unfortunate that Manohar Singh, a local resident who climbed into the well and saved a couple of lives, however, himself, choked to death inside the well later. The state’s CM Dr Mohan Yadav will make the necessary announcement for financial assistance/compensation,” Dewda said.