Garhwa – On Friday, a heart-wrenching incident occurred in Garhwa district in which three brothers from the same family lost their lives, along with another villager. All of them died while opening the shuttering of a newly built septic tank in a newly constructed house.
The incident took place in Nawada village, near the district headquarters. One after another, all four men entered the tank and died inside.
The deceased were identified as Ajay Choudhary (50), Chandrashekhar Choudhary (42), and Raju Shekhar Choudhary (55) — all sons of Nawada resident Moti Choudhary — and another villager, Maltu Ram.
The three brothers were constructing a new house, and a new septic tank had been built. The accident happened while they were removing the shuttering of the tank.
According to locals, after the shuttering was removed, Maltu Ram entered the tank first but did not come out for a long time. Seeing this, Raju Shekhar Choudhary went in to check on him, but he too did not return. Similarly, Ajay Choudhary and then Chandrashekhar Choudhary entered one after another, but all four got trapped inside.
Villagers standing nearby, realizing that none of them were returning, raised an alarm and called others for help. After much effort, they pulled all four out and rushed them to Garhwa Sadar Hospital. Doctors there declared them dead.
Upon receiving the news, Sub-Divisional Officer Sanjay Kumar, SDPO Neeraj Kumar, and local police station in-charge Brij Kumar arrived at the hospital with police personnel. The bodies were then sent for post-mortem.
Villagers believe that poisonous gas inside the septic tank caused suffocation, leading to their deaths. The entire Nawada village and Garhwa town are now in mourning.