Two men were asphyxiated to death while cleaning a septic tank at a house in Kavangarai near Puzhal on Monday. The police and the Fire and Rescue Services personnel fished out their bodies from the tank.
The victims have been identified as Baskar, 52, and Ismail, 36, of Mondiamman Nagar.
The police said Nirmala, 50 a resident of Gurushanthi Nagar, Kavangarai. had approached Ganeshan of Mondiamman Nagar for cleaning the septic tank at her house.
On Monday morning, Ganeshan brought Baskar and Ismail to her house. The two workers entered the tank after opening the lid and inhaled poisonous gas. They collapsed inside. Since they did not come out for long and there was no response from inside, Ganeshan alerted the police.
Personnel from Red Hills Fire Station entered the tank and pulled out the bodies from the tank using a rope. The bodies were sent to the Government Stanley Hospital for post-mortem.
Puzhal police booked a case under Section 304-(ii) (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder) the IPC and under the provisions of The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and arrested the house owner Nirmala.
It may be recalled that two workers died while cleaning a septic tank on the premises of a school on May 1.
