Mumbai: Two die after inhaling poisonous gases in sewer

Workers pulled out those who had fallen unconscious in the chamber

A worker and his supervisor died after inhaling poisonous gases while cleaning a sewer chamber in Rabale, MIDC on Saturday evening. The Rabale police have arrested a site engineer for not providing safety gear to the workers.

The incident took place on December 3 when site engineer Dattatray Girdhari, who works with Bitcoin of India Pvt Ltd, told supervisor Sandeep Hambe, 35, and three workers - Vijay Jharkhand, 29; Vasant Jharkhand, 49; and Murtaza Sheikh, 30 - to clean a choked sewer chamber at plot number 310 in MIDC. "Vasant and Vijay entered the gutter and Sandeep followed them. I was standing outside and collecting the mud and filth they filled in a bucket. Around 3.15 pm, suddenly a strong smell emanated from the gutter and the three fell unconscious. Vasant was moving a bit and I managed to bring him out with the help of a rope," Murtaza said.

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Murtaza started shouting for help and some other workers came to his aid. The three workers were taken to Rajmata Jijau Hospital. Vasant was referred by doctors to NMMC Vashi hospital while Vijay and Sandeep were declared dead on arrival at 6.30 pm.

"According to the statement of one of the workers, it is clear that they were not provided with necessary safety gear, resulting in their death. We have booked Dattatray Girdhari, the site engineer who is responsible for the incident, under Sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC. He has been arrested. Vasant is out of danger and has been discharged from hospital," said Sudhir Patil, senior inspector, Rabale MIDC police station.

3
Day in December when the incident took place