Two Tamilians die after inhaling gas in Kochi

Kochi: Two migrant labourers who went down a manhole to clean a drain at Colombo Junction near Ernakulam general hospital early on Sunday morning died after inhaling toxic gas.

The dead were identified as Raju and Madhavan, both hailing from Dindigul in Tamil Nadu. Their co-workers were waiting for them outside the manhole when the duo inhaled hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and died.

According to the officials of the Kerala Water Authority’s sewage department, who employed them to clean the drainage, the manholes were never opened or cleaned in the past 10 years. Fire officials also pointed out that the manhole either must have contained hydrogen sulphide or did not have enough oxygen for two persons to breathe.

“The two workers had cleaned another manhole without any trouble just minutes before. But when they got inside this manhole, there was a deathtrap waiting for them. The other workers were waiting outside when Raju and Madhavan were inside. They were talking to them from outside. But suddenly the workers felt that the duo was not replying to their questions. They suspected that the two might have become unconscious and hence alerted us and the police,” said a fire force official who arrived at the spot for the rescue.

A fire force official dared to take a risk and went inside the manhole first by climbing down a ladder. After reaching the bottom, he realized that both workers were unconscious.

Since he could not lift them up by himself, he came up and went back again with a rope.

“It was Raju who was taken out first. He was immediately taken to the general hospital. Madhavan was also pulled out in another ten minutes. He was also rushed to the hospital,” the fire personnel said.

But the hospital authorities said both the workers had died by the time they reached the hospital. Their postmortems will be held later and the bodies will be handed over to the kin.