Two people died after trying to retrieve a brand new mobile phone which has been accidentally dropped by a woman into the cesspit in China on Friday.

Multiple media reports said that four other people also entered the septic tank after a woman dropped the new device into the open pit. The brand new mobile phone was valued CNY2000, reported online news site Dahe, run by the provincial government of Henan Province.

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The husband of the woman jumped into the open-pit toilet to locate the missing phone. However, he passed out after being suffocated by fumes, reported Dahe.

The woman’s mother-in-law tried to save her son by going down to the cesspit. However, she also fainted and died. The woman who dropped her phone along with her father-in-law went down to the septic tank to retrieve the victims, continued the report.

Two other neighbors followed the family members into the open pit toilet and were also suffocated.

A total of six people went down to the cesspit. The residents of Xinxiang used ropes to help the people who went down. Photos posted online showed that the cesspit could be accessed through a brick built hole with a one meter opening.

The woman’s husband and mother died during the incident. Meanwhile, the woman was still unconscious while two of the neighbors who came to their rescue became ill, said the report.

According to the web portal, two people died in a matter of five minutes. The husband’s hysterical uncle said that the death of the two left a one year old son and a half paralyzed old man.

The incident has led people to realize to weigh the importance of life over material things. Multiple media outlets online including WebProNews also said that if you incur a similar incident, just let the phone go.

Meanwhile, Dahe did not say whether the missing phone which started it all has been found.

TagsDahe, WebProNews, Xinxiang, mobile phone, cesspit