Chennai: Three cleaning restaurant water sump asphyxiated

Chennai: The death of three employees of an eatery by asphyxiation after reportedly inhaling obnoxious gases while cleaning the restaurant’s underground sump on Perambur High Road sparked tension as scores of metro water workers, clad in blue shirts, gathered at the scene thinking that it was their colleagues that died in the accident, on Saturday afternoon.

Tension prevailed as cops and the hotel management refused to let the metro water workers, and the cops brokered peace with them. The deceased were identified as Ramakrishnan, (20), Chappa Vinay, (22), and Satish, (21), employees of Sangeetha Veg Restaurant, and hailing from Lakshmipuram in Vijayanagaram, Andhra Pradesh.

According to eyewitnesses, Ramakrishnan was tasked to open the sump to check for water supply from the terminal, after the metro water that dug up in front of the hotel confirmed supply to the hotel terminal, at around 1.30 pm.
Soon after he raised the lid and peeked inside, he swooned into the sump. Panicking, Satish and Chappa Vinay lowered themselves into the sump. Since the trio did not come out, Kanagaraj, another employee, who rushed to rescue them, dropped his bid when he felt dizzy.

The hotel management alerted the cops at around 2 pm, and Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services Personnel (TNFRS) were roped in to bring the trio out of the sump.

The trio was subsequently fished out and the paramedics from an ambulance service declared all three dead. The hotel staff then alerted customers having food to wind up early to help deal with the situation, while the employees themselves requested the management to grant them leave so as to mourn the death of their colleagues.

The bodies of the trio were moved to Kilpauk Medical College Hospital (KMCH) for post mortem. A staff, requesting anonymity, said the hotel was not getting the water supply for the past 45 days.

“Since the water supply was reinstated only on Saturday, the hotel management asked our colleagues to clean the sump, which was not cleaned for the past four years,” one of the staff members said.

The staff also demanded that the kin of the deceased should be adequately compensated. This claim was confirmed by one of the police officers from the spot, who also re-affirmed that it was only the metro water sump the employees were asked to clean, and not any septic tank.

Lack of awareness behind tragedy

 A team of engineers from both Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board and Chennai corporation who visited the ill-fated Sangeetha Hotel on Saturday to ensure that their departments were not dragged into the accident discussed three possibilities for the death of hotel workers.

Water contamination, excess chlorination or formation of carbon monoxide due to vaccum were discussed by the engineers, an informed metro water engineer said. In 90 per cent cases, sumps are relatively safe, when compared to septic tanks, but if there is a sewer leak near the water sump or kept unused for a long time, poisonous gas is always there to strike, he warned.

“Our zonal officer and local engineer arrived to check what exactly caused the death of the workers. Initially, they said it was a storm water drain, so we rushed to the spot”, an informed corporation source said adding that the death was completely due to lack of awareness by the hotel supervisors