Three people, including a Fire and Rescue Services officer, were killed during a rescue operation that went awry at Neduvathoor in Kollam, Kerala, early Monday (October 13, 2025).
The Kollam police identified the deceased as Sonu S. Kumar, 36, a native of Attingal and an emergency responder attached to the Fire and Rescue Services unit in Kottarakkara; Archana, 33, a native of Neduvathoor; and Sivakrishnan, 22, Archana’s partner and a resident of Kodungalloor in Thrissur.
According to the police, the Fire and Rescue Services department received a distress call in the early hours, intimating that Archana had jumped into a municipal well adjacent to her house.
Mr. Kumar was part of the emergency rescue team which rushed to the scene. Mr. Kumar abseiled down the deep well to pull Archana out of the waters when the concrete barricade around the reservoir collapsed.
The police said Sivakrishnan, who was leaning into the well, fell into the depths. The falling debris fatally trapped the three at the bottom.
The remaining members of the unit and local people extricated the three from the well. However, they exhibited scarce signs of life when brought to the surface. They were rushed to a local hospital, where doctors pronounced the three dead.
The police said their preliminary inference was that Archana took the extreme step following a fight with Sivakrishnan over a supposedly missing bottle of alcohol. They said they have retrieved videos Archana posted on social media to show the injuries she had sustained.
The police have registered a case of unnatural death.
(Suicide Prevention Helpline: Disha – 1056, 0471-2552056)
Published – October 13, 2025 10:05 am IST
