JEDDAH: Two brothers aged 55 and 60 died in a 15-foot-deep well, one after slipping into it and the other while trying to rescue him, in Taif on Wednesday.

Two Civil Defense personnel also suffered from suffocation because of thick smoke coming out from a water pump inside the well, leading to speculation that the two men may have got suffocated before drowning.

The rescue personnel were given first aid before being admitted to hospital, Civil Defense spokesman Col Nasir bin Sultan Al-Sharif was quoted as saying by an online newspaper.

“Teams were dispatched to the spot, in the Wadi Zi Ghazal area, soon after receiving a call at 4:40 p.m.,” he said.

According to Al-Sharif, both the brothers were inspecting the water pumps inside the well when one of them fell into it. The younger brother went inside the well to rescue him, but he too died. The well, with a 5-meter diameter, has two-meter-deep water, he said.

The Civil Defense prevented two other men from getting inside the well, which was full of smoke, he said. “Four motors were installed at the well to pump out water, and smoke was coming out from one of the pumps,” he said.