NEW DELHI: At least four students died and another was left critically injured after they entered a 12-foot-deep water tank at Vrindavan Gurukulam in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, with toxic gas suspected to have caused the deaths.
Vrindavan Gurukulam is a residential institution where children stay and study.
As per reports, five students entered the tank and were subsequently pulled out after they failed to come back.
Authorities took them to the hospital, where four were declared dead, while one student is undergoing treatment, IANS reported.
Soon after the incident, police teams arrived at the spot and authorities started investigating the circumstances that led to the incident.
Toxic gas is suspected to have caused the deaths, though the exact cause is being investigated.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shlok Kumar told mediapersons that the incident was reported from the Vrindavan police station area, where the residential educational institution is located.
“A short while ago, information was received that in the Vrindavan police station area, there is an institution named Vrindavan Gurukulam, a residential setup where children stay and study,” Kumar said.
He explained that the students went inside the tank to clean it as it was emitting a foul smell.
“Inside this institution, there is a water tank that was emitting a foul smell. To clean it, some students went inside,” the SSP said.
“First, one boy went inside, but he didn’t come out. Following him, four more boys went inside. When they also failed to come out, the people present there made efforts and somehow pulled them out,” he added. - The Statesman/ANN
