Sanitary workers die of toxic fumes
Two sanitary workers died on Sunday while cleaning a septic tank in a factory processing pulses in Hyderabad SITE area. According to the police and doctors at Liaquat University Hospital, carbon monoxide poisoning is the apparent cause of their death though the post-mortem reports are awaited.
The SITE police station SHO Manzoor Ahmed Laghari informed that 26-year-old Azeem Azmi and 25-year-old Aamir Maseeh died of toxic fumes in the incident. The former worker was an employee of the mill while the latter was his cousin who was hired for one-day labour of cleaning the tank for Rs1,000 labour charges.
The local workers told the police that Aamir landed inside the tank, which is said to be around 15 feet deep, through a stair. Minutes later they heard his shouts after which Azeem also climbed down to rescue his cousin but he also became unconscious.
A team of Rescue 1122 later pulled out the bodies and shifted them to the LUH. The rescue workers said both the sanitary workers descended inside the tank without wearing oxygen masks or the safety gear.
The mill's drainage system was reportedly choked because of delay in cleaning the tank owing to which sanitary workers were asked to clean the tank on Sunday. The tank is located near the entrance gate of the mill.
The drainage network in the SITE area is operated by the SITE department. Such tanks exist in most of the mills. The sludge from those tanks is emptied through the tankers.
Both the deceased lived in the St Paul Christian Colony near old Bakra Mandi. Each of them has two children, aged four to six years. Some representatives of the community have called for payment of compensation to families of the deceased.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2024.