KGF: Three persons died due to suffocation while reportedly stealing golden ore in the sink (closed mine) of Hankocks mine under Marikuppam Police limits in KGF reportedly in the late night of Wednesday.
According to KGF Superintendent of Police Sujeetha Salman, the bodies of Skanda (55) and Joseph (45) were pulled out from the sink with the help of fire personnel. The body of Santhosh @ Padayappa (24) could not be traced and it will be pulled out with the help of additional fire personnel, she said.
According to sources, a group of five persons reportedly hatched the plan to steal golden ore from the abandoned sink of Hankocks Shaft near Mysore Mines in KGF.
Sources said initially Skandha (55) and Joseph (45) entered the sink with the help of a rope and later another person entered. It is said that the third person who entered shouted to pull him out as he could not go proceed due to suffocation and immediately the two members who were at the surface pulled him out.
He told that he could not proceed deeper as it was suffocating and also said he couldn't see Skanda and Joseph.
Immediately, the three persons reportedly informed Skanda's son Santhosh @ Padayappa (25) who rushed to the spot and entered the sink to save his father. But he also didn't return back.
Out of fear that the three people who entered the sink might have died, the three at the surface informed the police, who rushed to the spot. Under the direct supervision of KGF Superintendent of Police Sujeetha Salman, the bodies of two people were pulled out.
On Thursday morning, the police attempted to trace the body of Santosh with the help of borewell machine torchlight. Now they are planning to search for the body with the help of mine light.
The BGML was closed on the 1st of March 2001 and several theft cases stealing golden ore in the defunct mill have been reported. However, there haven't been any theft cases reported in the last few years
Sink- A sink is a closed mine which will be depth of several thousand feet. Several defunct sinks are filled with water.