Four workers die of suffocation

FAISALABAD/SIALKOT:

Four employees of a logistics company died after allegedly suffocating due to toxic gas exposure while cleaning a sewer line in the Iqbal Industrial Estate area on Thursday, officials said.

Rescue teams recovered the bodies after a prolonged operation from a 18-foot-deep manhole and handed them over to police. Senior district officials, including the Deputy Commissioner Faisalabad, Assistant Commissioner City, and senior police officers, reached the site and supervised the rescue operation.

As per a police report, the incident occurred on June 5 at around 4:30pm within the jurisdiction of FIEDMC Police Station, between the entrance of Allama Iqbal Industrial Estate and Green Crockery area.

Logistics company workers had entered a sewer line for cleaning when the fatal incident took place.

The deceased were identified as Rafaqatullah Khan and Kifalatullah Khan, both residents of Lakki Marwat, who initially entered the manhole to carry out cleaning work.

During the operation, one of them reportedly began to suffocate due to toxic gas and wastewater conditions inside the sewer.

Hearing his cries for help, fellow workers Haji Tahseen Khan and driver Dilawar Khan, also from Lakki Marwat, entered the manhole in an attempt to rescue them.