(15 April) A boy has died after falling into a 10-metre deep well filled with toxic gas as he was playing Songkran water fights in Ubon Ratchathanee province.
The police in Kueng Nai district were alerted of the incident yesterday evening, the officers immediately dispatched rescue workers equipped with oxygen tanks to the well, which is located in Baan Tha Hai village.
The rescue workers spent approximately 10 minutes looking for the victim in the water at the bottom of the well before he was located. The 8-year old child was promptly lifted from the well to be treated by the medical workers on standby at the top, but he was already dead by the time any help could be administered.
Police said the boy died from inhaling the noxious Hydrogen Sulfide gas which had accumulated at the bottom of the well.
According to the police, the well was dug by a contractor company as a part of a construction project at a nearby reservoir. The construction workers reportedly left the well covered with pieces of galvanised metal sheeting as they halted their work during Songkran holiday.
Witnesses said the boy, who had recently returned to his home village from Bangkok with his parents, was enjoying playful water fights with his friends when he stepped onto the sheets and plunged down into the well.
Police said they will summon witnesses and construction workers for an investigation to determine whether the incident was caused by unlawful neglect.
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