Seven persons were feared dead on Thursday when they inhaled suspected poisonous gas after they went down a well to clean it at Deurisai village in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district.

Superintendent of Police Sudhir Kumar Jha said, "One body was recovered but six others who went down the well have not responded to the calls from above the ground."

The police said the incident occurred when one person went inside the well and died after inhaling suspected poisonous gas.

Another person too entered the well to see what happened to the person who did not respond for a while. He too did not return and five others followed suit. But none of them had come up, police said.

Jha said they were not sure about the number of dead and a police team has rushed to the spot.