Two workers died of asphyxiation, reportedly caused by leakage of gas, while they were attending to repairs in the underground drainage at Nambiar Nagar in Nagapattinam municipality on Friday.
Another worker has been admitted to the Government Hospital in Nagapattinam. They were employed on contract by the local body for maintenance of the underground drainage network.
Finding Madhavan, 38, in an unconscious condition inside the manhole, Sakthivel, 27, and Sridhar, 40, had entered inside to lift him out. However, they, too, had fallen unconscious.
Acting on information, a team of Fire and Rescue Service personnel rushed to the spot, and found Sridhar gasping for breath, and the other two in an unconscious state.
They were rushed to the Government Hospital in an 108 ambulance.
Madhavan and Sakthivel were declared brought dead at the hospital, official sources said.
Nagapattinam Municipality Commissioner Ravichandran said the local body was equipped with machines for cleaning underground drainage and that the contract workers were engaged in what was thought to be a peripheral work.
“The workers had carried out similar tasks in the past without any problem. Presence of inert gas was least expected at the location they worked,” he said.
The contract labourers were at work at a drainage junction point, which had a depth of about eight feet. Fire Station Officer of Nagapattinam Jayakumar who led the rescue team said, “We first sprayed water inside and opened the lids of a few manholes close by for release of the poisonous gas. Thereafter, the three labourers were hauled up by the team using ropes,” he said.
Holding the local body responsible for the deaths, relatives of the deceased staged a demonstration in front of the hospital and refused to accept their bodies after post-mortem.
