Three labourers fall in Manhole in Puranapul area; dies

Three labourers, who were cleaning a choked manhole on the Puranapul main road died on Friday after inhaling poisonous gas. Initially, M Srinivas (40), a sanitary worker, who opened the manhole cover, lost his balance and fell into it at 3.30 pm, police said. His co-workers V. Hanmanth (42) and M. Venkateshwar Rao jumped into the manhole to save Srinivas but fell unconscious as they inhaled the poisonous gas and died, Kulsumpura sub-inspector B. Man Mohan Goud said. The victims were hired on daily wages by Ayyappa Infra contract agency, he said. 

Another coworker, Jeevan Raj, who had tied himself to the others with a rope to anchor them, pulled out his coworkers with the support of others. He, too, fell ill due to inhalation of the poisonous gas, Goud said.

Srinivas, the first worker who fell into the manhole, died on the spot, while



Hanmanth and Venkateshwar Rao were rushed to Osmania General Hospital where the doctors declared them dead. The manhole cleaning works were undertaken by contract agency Ayyappa Infra. 

However, it failed to provide their labourers with breathing masks, which led to the death of three persons. The police registered a case of culpable homicide against the contract agency and the probe is on. The CLUES teams collected samples of the gas.

After the incident, senior officials from HMWS&SB rushed to the scene. The authorities are likely to order a departmental inquiry into the incident after the police investigation reports and the PME reports, sources disclosed. The bodies of the victims have been shifted to OGH mortuary and were later handed over to their family members.