NEW DELHI, June 25, (Xinhua): As many as five persons and a cow died after they inhaled an unidentified toxic gas inside a 70-feet deep well in India's central state of Madhya Pradesh, confirmed a local cop on Wednesday. The incident occurred in the state's Guna district. Initially, a cow fell into the well. Two men descended into the well to rescue the cow, but they collapsed from inhaling the toxic gas, said the cop.

Subsequently, a third person went down into the well in a bid to save the two people. But after experiencing difficulty in breathing, he managed to come out of the well. Finally, three more men descended into the well to save the two men and the cow.

On reaching down the well, they too experienced difficulty in breathing and soon fell unconscious and eventually died. All the bodies were recovered from inside the well, and an operation was launched to determine the identity of the gas which led to the deaths. The person who managed to climb up the well was kept under observation at a local government hospital, added the cop.