3 Karachi sanitation workers suffocate while cleaning drain

KARACHI: Three workers of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) died of suffocation while cleaning a drain in Lyari.

Razzaq, 25, was the first to go inside the drain. When he did not return for a long time, 30-year-old Fayyaz went looking for him. He was followed by Shahzad, 26, and Ghaffar.

Shahzad fainted as soon as he entered, making Ghaffar realise that the drain was filled with poisonous gas and he should not enter.

The three men, employed by the Karachi Water and Sewage Board, were working near Taj Peshawari Hotel in Khadda Market when the accident took place.

Later, rescue workers retrieved the three bodies from the drain and sent them to Civil hospital where senior medico-legal officer Dr Aftab Chanter declared them dead.

The police handed over the bodies to their relatives. All the victims were residents of Essa Nagri.