Accident: Two cleaners drown while clearing drain

Residents panicked after the two hired sweepers failed to emerge after 30 minutes.

SUKKUR: Two sweepers died while they were trying to open a choked drain in Akhuwat Nagar Society at Airport Road on Sunday afternoon.

Residents hired two private sweepers, Jawed and Sudheer to clear the 36-inch-wide main drain. When the workers failed to return after 30 minutes, the people panicked and called the North Sindh Urban Services Corporation, whose officials recovered the cleaners’ bodies after three hours.

They said the sweepers cleared the drain and drowned in the strong current of sewerage water that ensued. Other sources suspect they died after inhaling poisonous gases in the drain.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2011.