Liberia: Tragedy Hits Robertsville

Three men die while drilling a well

Three men have died while drilling a well in the Harts Town, Robertsville, White Plains Community, Rural Montserrado County.

The deceased, identified as George Askie, age 25; Prince Kudah, age 32; and Sumo Qoingewu, reportedly met their death while recovering water from the well. Reports said the deceased had died mysteriously one after another while trying to rescue each other.

They were on a contract to dig a well to fetch water for community dwellers. Further reports suggest the community dwellers have struggled with the issue of water, latrine, and sanitation in that part of Montserrado over the years.

Witnesses told the New Dawn that the deceased were hired on a contract of $150.00 United States dollars to drill the well by a lady identified as Madam Janneh Hiama, age 56, a resident of the Hart Town, Robertsville community, when the incident occurred.

Foday Hiama, brother to Janneh Hiama, the hired man, narrated that George Askie, lead contractor, accompanied by the two victims, Kudah and Qoingewu, had decided to use a water pump machine to pump out the water for a perfect cleanup, and after several trials, the hood was unable to reach its specific water level.

He explained that after the failed attempts, the three victims decided to place a water pump machine into the well, which has reportedly operated for an hour and a half with no results.

Hiama details that Askie, the lead contractor, after additional failed attempts to drill the water and being unaware of the danger of carbon, decided to go into the well to use alternative means since the machine was unable to pull out the water due to the shortage of the hood.

Reports said that after nearly 15 minutes, noticing the return of his colleague, Prince Kudah decided to rescue Askie and drowned.

Sumo Qoingewu, partial lone survivor after noticing two of his colleagues had drowned in the well, signaled dwellers and Madam Janneh Hiama, who hired them to dig the well, about the incident and said he could bring out the corpses from the well for the amount of USD $100.00; as the deal was struck with the owners of the well, he also got drowned.

According to reports, a 15-man jury was formed to establish the cause of the deaths and explained there was no foul play, confirming the three men had died as a result of lack of ventilation.

Meanwhile, family members have recovered the bodies of the three men after the incident. -Edited by Othello B. Garblah.

Read the original article on New Dawn.