Three contract workers of Madurai Corporation died of asphyxiation while trying to fix an electric motor in a sewage pumping station at Nehru Nagar here on Thursday night.
Deputy Mayor T. Nagarajan, who rushed to the pumping station on Nehru Nagar Main Road, said that the three contract workers were involved in the job of repairing the motor.
“We believe that Sivakumar, 40, who first got into the sewage tank, which has a depth of around 30 feet, to fix the motor fell unconscious after he inhaled the poisonous gas at around 9 p.m. Subsequently the other two workers also fell into the tank,” he said.
The other victims were identified as Lakshmanan and Saravanan. While two of the bodies have been retrieved from the sewage tank, Fire and Rescue Services personal were trying to fish out the third body till 11 p.m.