Two brothers die of suffocation in well

AMMAN — Two brothers died of suffocation on Saturday while cleaning a well in the town of Sarih in Irbid Governorate, official sources said.

A third person, who was also in the well helping the brothers, suffered from suffocation and was listed in fair condition, a Civil Defence Department (CDD) official told The Jordan Times.

The three men went down the nine-metre deep well to clean it and took a diesel-operated water pump, the CDD official said.

“It seems that there wasn’t enough oxygen in the well and it caused them to suffocate,” he added.

The family of the 35- and 29-year-old victims were alerted to the incident after noticing that the well-cleaning operation was taking a long time and went to check on them, a second source said.

CDD rescue teams pulled the three men out and provided first aid, the source added.

“They were then rushed to a nearby hospital where one brother was pronounced dead on arrival and the second died an hour later,” he noted.

The source explained that deep water wells usually lack oxygen and need to be opened for a few days before cleaning to allow gases to be released from the closed area and allow oxygen in.

The fact that the men used a water pump that runs on diesel also contributed to decreasing the little oxygen that was in the well, the source pointed out.

Ali Shotar, who heads the Irbid National Institute of Forensic Medicine, told The Jordan Times that autopsies are expected to be performed on the victims on Sunday.