TIMERGARA: Three brothers and their cousin died of suffocation in a well at Sher Khani village of Maidan in Lower Dir on Saturday.
According to the residents, a farmer, Nasir Khan, 28, went down a well to repair a turbine pump, but he fell unconscious due to the accumulated poisonous fumes.
Later, his two brothers, Ayub Khan, 25, and Ashfaq Khan, 22, also went down the well to rescue him, but they also fainted and died.
Their cousin, Musa Khan, 18, followed them and met the same fate while their neighbour Mumtaz was rescued by local people.
A large number of people along with some skilled volunteers gathered there and pulled out the bodies, and injured Mumtaz. The bodies were shifted to the district headquarters hospital, Timergara, where doctors confirmed death of three brothers and their cousin.
Mr Mumtaz is stated to be in critical condition while bodies of the four men were handed over to the relatives for burial. The Haya Serai police registered the case and have started investigation.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami MNA Sahibzada Yaqub and MPA Saeed Gul demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to announce compensation for the two families.
Published in Dawn, June 22nd , 2014