Four members of the same family have died in Bangladesh’s Tangail district after entering an abandoned toilet pit during an attempt to rescue a goat, police have said.
The incident took place at around 8:30am on Saturday in the Telki area of Madhupur upazila.
According to local authorities, the animal had fallen into a disused toilet pit, prompting a family member to climb down to retrieve it. When he did not return, other relatives reportedly entered the pit one after another in an attempt to help.
Police assume that toxic gases accumulated inside the confined space and overcame the victims.
Madhupur Police Station Officer-in-Charge AKM Fazlur Haque said, “initial findings indicated that hazardous fumes were the likely cause of the deaths.”
He also said that the victims were affected by poisonous gas inside the pit while trying to rescue one another.
Residents alerted emergency responders after the family members failed to emerge from the pit. Police and local people later carried out a recovery operation and retrieved the bodies.
The identities of the victims had not been officially confirmed at the time of reporting. However, preliminary information suggests that all four were members of the same household.
Authorities have begun the necessary legal procedures and are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Fatal accidents involving toxic gases in wells, septic tanks and abandoned pits have occurred in Bangladesh in the past, often when people enter confined spaces without protective equipment or proper ventilation.
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