NEWS AND OPINION: In India, wells are pretty common. They are used for irrigation and I presume for water extraction for consumption. There are numerous stories of leopards falling into them. Sometimes they are rescued. Sometimes leopards are killed by local people as well. Wells seem to be a potential and sometimes an actual hazard in India.
In this story a disused well was being used as a biogas pit and it stored animal waste. The story, as told in the video below, does not state this but biogas can be very toxic and even fatal.
A cat was trapped in this disused well. Six people tried to save the cat by jumping in the well. It happened at Wadki Village in Maharashtra on April 9th, 2024.
Five of them died. We are not told the cause but it seems plausible to suggest that it was the biogas. The sixth tied a rope around themselves before jumping in and was saved. I presume because rescuers promptly hauled him to safety after he called for help.
We are not told why the six were so apparently reckless in jumping into a deep well. Even if it just contained water how were they to get out?
This is an extremely sad story. There is no news about the cat and whether he/she was successfully rescued but it seems highly unlikely especially if the five who died were killed by the biogas. Survival would be beyond the means of even a cat who has nine lives.
The deceased were recovered by a rescue team, said the senior police officer, Dhananjay Jadhav.
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