UP: Four students die after entering water tank in Mathura, one critical

• Four students died after entering a 12-foot-deep water tank at Vrindavan Gurukulam in Mathura

• Five students entered the tank to clean it after a foul smell was detected; one survivor is critically injured

• Police are investigating the incident, with toxic gas exposure being examined as the possible cause

At least four students died and another was critically injured after they entered a 12-foot-deep water tank at Vrindavan Gurukulam, a residential educational institution in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district, on Wednesday. Authorities suspect toxic gas may have caused the deaths.

According to police, the incident occurred at the institution in the Vrindavan police station area. Five students entered the tank after it was found to be emitting a foul smell. The students reportedly went inside to clean it.

Mathura Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shlok Kumar said one student initially entered the tank but failed to return. Four others then went inside, but they too did not emerge.

“When they also failed to come out, the people present there made efforts and somehow pulled them out,” Kumar said.

All five students were subsequently taken to a hospital. Four were declared dead, while the fifth student remains critically injured and is undergoing treatment.

Police teams have reached the institution and begun investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. Authorities are also examining the possibility that toxic gas accumulated inside the tank, causing the students to lose consciousness.

The exact cause of the deaths has not yet been established, and further details are awaited as the investigation continues.

With IANS inputs