Three people on Friday died in a well at a construction site in the Owode area of Ede, Osun State.

The deceased, a cleric, Adebayo Oluwasina, 46; Lateef Adediran, 22; and Waliu Adediran, 31; met their death while attempting to recover a bucket that fell into a well.

A resident of Alaro Onigbin community in Owode Ede, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Waliu and Lateef were bricklayers engaged by Adebayo at his construction site.

He said at the commencement of the day’s work, a bucket being used to draw water fell into the well within the construction site and one of the two bricklayers went in search of it but got trapped.

“The younger of the two bricklayers was the one fetching water when the bucket fell inside the well. The boy entered the well to recover it, but did not come out. After some minutes, his elder brother, Waliu, went into the well to rescue him, but also got trapped inside.

“The owner of the site, Pastor Shina, also went into the well in a bid to rescue the two persons who earlier got trapped, but he also could not come out.

The incident threw our community into panic and firemen from the Osun State Fire Service were called to the scene. They were eventually recovered from the well by the fire service men, but not alive

The spokesperson for the Osun State Fire Service, Ibrahim Adekunle, confirmed the incident to Saturday PUNCH.

Adekunle said the three men were brought out of the well dead, adding that they got trapped due to the presence of ammonia gas in the well.

He said, “They were working within the compound of Mr Adebayo (the third victim) when their drawer fell into the well. The first victim went into the well with the hope of recovering the drawer, but he was trapped due to the presence of ammonia gas in the well.

“His elder brother, Adediran Waliyu, in an effort to recover his brother, was equally trapped. The owner of the premises also tried his luck to get them out before he got trapped too. It was at this juncture that they alerted the fire service.

“We immediately responded and recovered the three victims with the coordinated efforts of men of the state and federal services, police of A’ Division, Ede, and the community people. Their bodies were taken to an undisclosed hospital by the O’ Ambulance crew, where they were confirmed dead and their bodies handed over to their families