4 labourers, contractor killed while cleaning sewer in Gzb

Ghaziabad: In a tragic incident, five labourers including their contractor, were suffocated to death inside a sewer which was being dug up to connect with the main line in Krishna Kunj colony in Nand Gram area under Sihani gate police station jurisdiction of Ghaziabad on Thursday afternoon.

Cops said that the labourers went inside the sewer one by one to save each other but got suffocated and trapped inside.

The incident occurred around 1:30 pm when one of the labourers slipped inside a 13-feet deep sewer while digging a hole at its neck in order to connect it with a main pipe line which is operated by Ghaziabad Jal Nigam.

The deceased have been identified as contractor Vijay Kumar (40), his brother-in-laws Shiv Kumar (32), Sandeep (30), two other labourers Horil (35) and Damodar (40), all natives of Samastipur district in Bihar.

Jitendra Yadav, an eyewitness who pulled out two labourers from the sewer told Millennium Post that while digging a hole into sewer, one of the labourer went inside the manhole and after he failed to come out and stopped responding, another labourer jumped inside to save him.

"There were nearly five labourers, including their contractor, working at the sewer line when one of them went inside the manhole and fell unconscious after he got slipped. Those who were standing outside tried to help him and jumped inside the sewer one by one as each person who go inside got trapped after falling unconscious," said Yadav.

"Everything happened in less than five minutes and we immediately alerted fire officials and police. As I am also a labourer and had worked at several such sites, I didn't wait for police to come and with the help of locals we started rescue operation. I went inside the sewer after putting up a mask and wrapping my mouth with wet towel to prevent inhaling poisonous fumes. By the time fire officials could have reached, we managed to pull out two bodies from the sewer and rest three bodies were taken out by fire officials," added Yadav.

Meanwhile, Shlok Kumar, Superintendent of Police (city), Ghaziabad said that all the victims were declared brought dead at Mariam Hospital in Nandigram area.

"Prima Facie it appears that the sewer hole was filled with rain water while water from nearby houses was also being dumped into the hole. This caused toxic fumes and poisonous gases to emit out from the sewer hole which suffocated the victims and they got trapped inside," said Kumar.

"We have registered a case under IPC section 304 and relevant sections of SC/ST act against the director of EMS Infracon private limited company and concerned officials of Ghaziabad Jal Nigam. Appropriate actions will be taken after investigations," added Kumar.

Following the incident, Principal Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Manoj Kumar Singh, suspended four officials of Ghaziabad Jal Nigam including the General manager of the board. Among those suspended were Krishna Mohan Yadav, General Manager, Ghaziabad Jal Nigam, Executive engineer Ravindra Singh, Assistant Engineer Praveen Kumar and Junior Engineer Ajmat Ali.

The government also ordered to register an FIR and blacklist the contractor EMS Infracon private limited company, office of which is in Raj Nagar District Center (RDC) area in Ghaziabad.