Worker dies after inhaling toxic gas from sewer in Kanpur city

One person died and two others fell ill while cleaning a sewer in Barra area of Kanpur city. (Source: Google Map)

One person died and two others fell ill while cleaning a sewer in Barra area of Kanpur city on Saturday afternoon. According to officials, they were not wearing any safety gear for the job. Barra station officer Bhaskar Mishra said Guddu, Babulal and Prakash, all local residents, were rushed to a hospital soon after they fell ill. Prakash, 45, was declared brought dead, he said. Municipal Commissioner Avinash Singh said the three men were outsourced from a private firm and were tasked with cleaning only drains, and not sewers, which is handled by Jal Sansthan, another body under the Urban Development Department.

Singh said a preliminary inquiry revealed that the three had completed the Corporation’s work by 2 pm but were called by another person to clean a septic tank in a colony. He said the workers entered it without wearing any safety gear like face mask. They may have fallen ill after inhaling toxic gas from the sewage, he said.  “Municipal officials were not involved in this work. An additional municipal commissioner will conduct an inquiry into the whole incident,” he added.

Station Officer Mishra said family members of the deceased have not complained yet. He said more details about the incident will be gathered from the officials of Municipal Corporation and the private firm for which they worked.
Sunil Singh, an official of JTN Services, the firm that outsourced the men to the Corporation, said they was still gathering information about the incident.