Two die while cleaning septic tank in Pune; search on for third missing person

While cleaning the tank, two of them complained of suffocation and died due to the gas emanating from the chamber while another person remains missing

In a tragic incident, two workers died of suspected suffocation while the search is underway for the third person missing while cleaning a septic chamber of a private society at Wagholi in Pune on Friday morning.

The workers started to clean the tank early morning at 6am when three of them entered inside the chamber. (HT Photo)

The cleaning was conducted manually by three persons when the workers entered into the septic tank. While cleaning the tank, two of them complained of suffocation and died due to the gas emanating from the chamber.

Officials from fire brigade department of Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) launched the search operation for the third missing person.

According to PMRDA officer, the workers were working in an 18-feet deep drainage-cum-septic tank.

“It seems that they were suffocated and got stuck inside. We were informed about it around 7am and after reaching the spot, we took out the bodies of two workers,” an official from the fire brigade department said.

The deceased were identified as Nitin Gond (45), a resident of Buldhana, and Satishkumar Choudhari (35) belonging to Uttar Pradesh.

The search is on for Ganesh Palekrao (28), a resident of Nanded.

All three of them were working for a contractor named Gajanan Karambhatti.

The workers started to clean the tank early morning at 6am when three of them entered inside the 18-feet deep chamber, fire brigade official said.

Local residents of the Solacia phase-2 housing society added that there was another worker stuck inside.

“There were three workers and we also saw three pairs of footwear outside the tank, so a search is on for the third worker,” said the local resident.