Site engineer booked after 2 workers die while cleaning sewer

Navi Mumbai: A site engineer of a private firm was booked after two workers reportedly died and one injured while they were cleaning a sewer line in Rabale on Saturday night

Navi Mumbai: A site engineer of a private firm was booked after two workers reportedly died and one injured while they were cleaning a sewer line in Rabale on Saturday night.

HT Image

The Rabale MIDC police have registered a case of negligence against the site engineer.

The deceased have been identified as Vijay Jharkhand, 29, and Sandeep Hambe, 35. Vasant Jharkhand, 49, was injured in the accident.

The trio worked for a private firm that took up contracts to clean the sewer lines in Rabale MIDC.

On Saturday, site engineer Dattatray Giridhari had sent four workers to clean a clogged chamber in Rabale.

While Vasant, Vijay and supervisor Hambe entered the chamber, another worker, Murtuja Sheikh, was waiting outside the chamber to help them.

When they were removing the soil and waste with the help of a shovel, a strong smell of chemicals rose from the chamber all of a sudden and all of them fell unconscious. Sheikh was able to pull Vasant out of the chamber with the help of a rope.

“During investigation, we found that the accident happened because the workers were working without any masks. They were not provided with any safety gear and we have booked Giridhari. It was necessary to provide them safety glasses, masks that cover nose and mouth, helmets and gumboots,” a police officer said.