4 dead, 19 rescued after several fall into well in MP

Four bodies were recovered and 19 people have been rescued after several people fell into the well on Thursday in Ganjbasoda area in Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha.

"19 people have been rescued. National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force are also here. The land here is prone to subsidence, it's happening again and again. It will be difficult to say the exact toll until the operation concludes," the state’s Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang said.

The minister was present at the site of the incident on the direction of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

According to locals, the well is around 50 feet deep with a water level of about 20 feet.

The incident took place at Ganj Basoda, about 50 km from the district headquarters.

The girl fell into the well around 9 pm and some people climbed down to rescue her while others were standing on the parapet wall around it to help them, a police official said.

The wall suddenly crashed, throwing those standing on it into the water, he said, adding that several of them were feared trapped under the rubble.

Around 11 pm, a tractor engaged in the rescue operation, along with four policemen, skidded into the well when the area around it caved in, eyewitnesses said.

-- With inputs from PTI