Soil had eroded near the Chikkagula lakebed in Sira taluk of Tumakuru district, where a man drowned after falling into a pit, near a defunct borewell, on Sunday.
The Chikkagula Gram Panchayat had closed the borewell after it became defunct, taluk panchayat member Thimmaiah R. told The Hindu .
The borewell was drilled around two years ago by the Tumakuru Zilla Panchayat. It was about 8 ft away from the lake bund. “As the lake was filled with water following the recent rain and owing to the release of water from the Hemavati, the soil had sunk and a pit was formed,” Mr. Thimmaiah said.
Kambanna, a resident of Chikkagula, who died, had gone to fill the borewell with sandbags. The Fire and Emergency Services personnel recovered the body after a three-hour search using a boat.
“Kambanna was stuck in silt and the Fire and Emergency Services staff had a tough time removing him out of the pit,” Sira tahsildar Honnashyame Gowda told The Hindu.
