7 workers die after inhaling poisonous gas while cleaning septic tank
Seven workers died of asphyxiation while cleaning a septic tank manually in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district on Friday. Initially four workers went inside the underground septic tank to clean it, but as soon as they got into it they fainted inhaling poisonous gas, police said. When they did not come out of the tank, another four went inside, unfortunately they too died. The security authorities broke open the tank to rescue the workers. While one of them was found dead, the other seven were pulled out in unconscious state. Three of the workers died on the way to hospital while three others died undergoing treatment. Prima facie it appeared that the sanitation supervisor of the hatcheries had failed in assessing the situation in the septic tank before sending the workers inside, police said. The company gets the tank cleaned once in six months. The police said a case of causing deaths by negligence had been registered. Health minister Dr Kamineni Srinivas said the government would extend all possible assistance to the families of the victims. -PTC News
