Five members of a family engaged in conservancy work died due to suffocation while cleaning a septic tank in Sonpeth taluka of Parbhani district on Thursday at around 10 pm.
According to officials, the medical condition of a labourer accompanying them is critical and has been admitted to a private hospital for treatment.
The deceased have been identified as Sadeq Shaikh, 55, Junaid Shaikh, 32, Shahrukh Shaikh, 28, Naveed Shaikh, 28 and Feroze Shaikh, 39. The deceased belonged to the same family.
The Parbhani rural police said that corpses have been sent for autopsy after which they will be handed over to the next of kin.
The incident took place in a private area and a case under negligence and causing accidental death has been lodged at Sonpeth police station.
The six labourers were cleaning the septic tank on a farm in Bhaucha Tanda area. The work started at 3pm while during the night the labourers began to suffocate. The health department was informed as they started to feel unwell. The conservancy workers were immediately shifted to Parbhani district general hospital. Out of them, five were declared dead by the hospital authorities.
“First Sabir Sheikh fell inside the tank and later his co-worker rescued him. But after some time another person collapsed inside the tank . When four others went inside to rescue their colleagues, all of them collapsed inside the tank and died due to suffocation ” said Sunil Rejitwad, incharge Sonpeth police station.
{{/usCountry}}“First Sabir Sheikh fell inside the tank and later his co-worker rescued him. But after some time another person collapsed inside the tank . When four others went inside to rescue their colleagues, all of them collapsed inside the tank and died due to suffocation ” said Sunil Rejitwad, incharge Sonpeth police station.
{{/usCountry}}He further added that a post mortem report will be able to shed more light on the exact cause of their deaths.