Two die while cleaning tank

One of the men died of asphyxiation and the other fell while trying to rescue his colleague

Two men were found dead inside a tank at a hotel on Greams Road off Anna Salai on Monday morning.

While one of the men died of asphyxiation, the other fell into the tank while attempting to save his colleague and died.

The two deceased were identified as Shekhar (45), a building contractor, and Robert (47), his employee. According to the police, four men went to the hotel for the regular cleaning of the tank.

According to Kanthavelu, inspector of Thousand Lights police, Shekhar and Robert have been in the business for the past three years. “Usually they open the lid of the tank in the night to release any gas collected and start disilting it in the morning. But this time as they were in a hurry, they went down inside the well directly without keeping the lid open,” he said.

The tank was 40 feet deep and located on the hotel premises. At 5.30 a.m., Robert went inside the tank with his safety rope tied to a beam outside. The other three waited outside. Within five minutes, the other men heard Robert shouting for help. Hearing the screams, Shekhar attempted to descend using the same rope Robert had used. But, he slipped, fell into the tank and died. The cause of Robert’s death was later established as asphyxiation.

As Shekhar and Robert failed to come out, the other two workers waiting outside tried to help, but it was too late. They contacted the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services and they arrived at the spot at 7 a.m. The two bodies were taken to Royapettah Government hospital for post-mortem.

The manager of the hotel, Saravanan was arrested under Section 304 (A) of the IPC (causing death by negligence).