Mangaluru: A 12-year old accidently fell into an abandoned open well here on Tuesday, after she made an unsuccessful attempt to pick a ball, which had gotten stuck on the net that covered an  open well.

The police gave the name of the deceased as Savitha (12), a student of Bejai Church School. She is the lone daughter of Parasappa and Shanthabai of Badami, Bagalkote. The family lives along with their youngest son in a rented house near Bejai. Both are daily wage labourers.

According to the relatives of the family, the girl was playing with her six friends in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the ball they were playing with fell on the net which covered  the open well, which was located at a lower position. The girl who climbed the wall of the well to pick the ball, accidentally slipped and  fell forward into the well collapsing the net as she fell  at around 12 in the noon.

The fire personnel rushed to the spot from Kadri. The police who got into the well to get the body out came up complaining of suffocation. “The well which has been abandoned consists of debris, contaminated water and poisonous gas. It is 60 feet deep at the ground level and consists of at least 10 feet of water”, said district fire officer S. Parameshwara.

In the second attempt, Nagesh Poojary, another police personnel got down into the well along with a grapnel. The police was able to identify the body and hooked it up. He later said that the water is contaminated and consists of poisonous gas. The oxygen level is low, he told the media.

The body was brought up after three hours of operation.

A huge crowd gathered at the spot.