Three labourers drown in pond behind Ramtek rice mill
Three migrant labourers from Bihar drowned while bathing in a pond behind a rice mill in Ramtek, Nagpur district, on Saturday afternoon.
Three coolie labourers drowned in a pond in Nagpur district's Ramtek tehsil around 2 pm on Saturday, September 26, in an accident that caused shock in the area. The pond lies behind the rice mill of Mohanlal Shankarlal Agro Foods Private Limited at Mouza Nandapuri-Nagardhan on the Ramtek-Mauda road.
According to Ramtek police, the deceased were Gulshan Kumar (20) of Purnia, Bihar, Rupesh Kumar (18) of Khagaria, Bihar, and Manish Kumar (18), also of Purnia, Bihar.
The three had been working as coolies for the past 20 to 22 days at the Omkar rice mill run by Mohanlal Shankarlal Agro Foods Private Limited near Nagardhan, through contractor Prashant Kumar of Bihar. It is said that around 50 to 60 coolies work at the mill through the same contractor.
After finishing their morning shift on Saturday, the three labourers went to bathe in the afternoon in the pond behind the rice mill. The pond, located right next to the Omkar rice mill, is said to be around 15 to 20 feet deep. The three lost their balance while bathing and drowned. Other labourers working alongside them saw this and immediately informed the mill owner, who in turn alerted Ramtek police.
On receiving the information, Sub-Divisional Police Officer Ramesh Barkate and Ramtek Police Inspector Rajesh Kumar Thorat reached the spot with their team. A search operation was carried out in the pond with the help of local fishermen, in which two bodies were recovered. The third labourer's body had not been found at the time of filing this report, and the search was continuing.
The two recovered bodies have been sent by ambulance to Ramtek sub-district hospital for post-mortem. Ramtek police are investigating the case further.
