Two die inside septic tank in south-west Delhi

The two men were removing scaffolding from inside the septic tank and were allegedly not provided with safety gear, police said

An 18-year-old daily-wage labourer and a 32-year-old civil contractor died of suffocation allegedly after inhaling toxic fumes inside a non-operational septic tank of an under-construction building at Qutub Vihar near Chhawla in southwest Delhi on Friday, police said on Saturday.

18-year-old Pradeep Kumar. (HT Photo)

The victims were identified as contractor Subhash Mandal and Pradeep Kumar. Both of them were originally from Bihar.

Police and family members of the victims said the two were allegedly not provided safety gear for carrying out the task, adding that a case of causing death by negligence was registered against unidentified people.

According to officers, the two were removing scaffolding from inside the septic tank when the incident took place at around 10.30am, in B-block of Qutub Vihar Phase 2.

“Although the tank was not operational, it may have converted into a noxious gas chamber because it was sealed soon after its construction, and its inner walls were waterproofed with chemicals a month ago. However, we are waiting for the autopsy and forensic reports to ascertain the exact cause of the deaths,” said a senior police officer associated with the case.

Officers at the Chhawla station received information about the incident at around 1.56pm on Friday via a call from Indira Gandhi Hospital, said deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh.

Investigation found that the Mandal was given the construction work by a building construction material supplier, identified as Sujit Jha, police said. A person who goes by his surname, Tripathi, is learnt to be the main contractor of the five-storey building. Jha and Mandal were the sub-contractors, said a senior police officer.

“Initial probe has revealed that the tank was completely sealed after its construction. On Friday, workers cut a small maintenance hole and immediately sent the two men inside to remove the scaffoldings. Prime facie, it appears that exposure to toxic fumes and high concentration of carbon dioxide inside the tank caused suffocation that proved fatal for the two victims,” said DCP Singh.

Kumar had come to Delhi only five months ago to earn money for his sister’s marriage. He lived in Delhi with another sister and her husband in Dwarka Sector 1.

Locals and other workers at the site said that Kumar was the first to enter the 10-foot-deep and 9-foot-wide septic tank through a small maintenance hole.

“My brother-in-law was not provided with any safety gear before being sent into the tank, which was filled with dirty water. When he started suffocating and screamed for help, Mandal lowered himself into the tank and tried to pull him up. But he too inhaled the gases and fell into the tank. The two had died by the time other labourers and neighbours pulled them out,” said Chandra Shekhar Shah, Kumar’s brother in-law.

According to Shah, nobody allegedly mustered the courage to enter the tank and rescue his brother-in-law and Mandal. The labourers used thick iron rods, bent them in an L-shape, and used the improvised rods to pull Kumar and Mandal out by entangling the rods with their clothes.

“It took them two hours to rescue Kumar and Mandal. Nobody called the police or the fire department for help. The two may have survived had they been rescued timely. The contractors and building owner should be held accountable for the two deaths,” alleged Shah.

Mandal is survived by his parents, two brothers, wife and three children, who live at their ancestral home in Chhapra. He was working in Delhi for the past five years, said his 25-year-old brother in-law, Raj Kishore Mandal.

“We were told on phone that my brother in-law died due to electrocution. On visiting the spot, I learnt that he died inside the septic tank inside which he was sent into without safety gear,” alleged Raj Kishore.