Sanitary worker killed, two others injured after falling into manhole

Aggrieved families claim KWSB team fled the scene when disaster struck

KARACHI: Three sweepers fell down a manhole near Baldiya School, Babar Market, Landhi No2 on Sunday as they were cleaning it. Two of the sweepers were fished out of the manhole and shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) but the search continued for the third. It was only hours later, that his body was pulled out from the manhole.

According to Landhi Police SHO Manzoor Arain, the injured sweepers were identified as Michael and Riaz, while the third sweeper who died in the accident, was identified as Rafiq Masih, 40. The SHO said that the sweepers did not have any safety tools while they were cleaning the manhole. They were descending down the manhole by tying ropes together.

According to the SHO, one of the sweepers had fallen in the manhole first and the other two fell as they tried to rescue him. Police and Rangers reached the site when they received information. The SHO added that people in the vicinity managed to pull out two of them through ad hoc efforts.

The victims' families told The Express Tribune that the staff of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) had taken the sweepers with them to clean the manhole, and had forced them to work on the weekend. The families named the KWSB staffers as Molana Saeed and Saleem. They said that the sweepers were threatened with pay deduction if they did not accompany the KWSB staffers for work on Sunday. However, when the sweepers fell down the manhole, the KSWB team fled from the scene, claimed the aggrieved families. A protest was staged near the place of the incident and the main road of Babar Market was blocked for traffic forcing citizens to take alternative routes.

The deceased sweeper, Rafiq, was a father to four daughters. His body was found after a four-hour long rescue operation carried out under the supervision of Landhi assistant commissioner. The deceased was shifted to JPMC for medico-legal formalities. Rangers, police, KWSB workers and Edhi volunteers assisted in the rescue operation.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2019.