At least four people, including three labourers, died due to toxic gas while cleaning a 15-year-old septic tank in the New Mahal area of Uttar Pradesh's Chandauli, news agency ANI reported on Thursday. Speaking on the incident, SDM Viraj Pandey said, "The cleaning of sewer was ongoing at the residence of one Bharat Jaiswal. Three labourers and the house owner's son died. District Administration will provide Rs 4 Lakhs ex-gratia to each of the deceased," as quoted by ANI. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognisance of the incident and expressed his condolences to the bereaved families. He has directed officials to reach the spot at the earliest and expedite relief measures, ANI reported.
Last week, two sanitation workers died while cleaning a septic tank at a private residence in Noida Sector 26. Police said they fell unconscious after inhaling poisonous gas from the tank and were rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared them dead.The deceased, Tapan Mandal (40) and Nooni Mandal (36), were relatives and hailed from Malda district in West Bengal. Police said they lived in a slum in Noida Sector 9.Police said both the workers were called by a resident of A Block in Sector 26, who they had worked for before, to clean the tank. Police said no agency was involved.
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More than 400 people died while cleaning septic tanks and sewers in the country between 2018 and 2023. According to the data, of the 49 cases of deaths in 2023, the maximum of 10 were reported from Rajasthan, followed by Gujarat (nine), Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu (seven each), West Bengal (three), Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana (two each) and Punjab and Jharkhand (one each).