Three choke to death inside sewage station

GHAZIABAD: Three persons were choked to death after they went down a well at a sewage pumping station in Ghaziabad’s Loni area on Sunday morning. Two of the men had gone down to save the first victim, who had been tasked to clean the well, the police said.

Around 9.50am, 40-year-old Roshan Lal, a cleaner employed by a contractor firm, had climbed down to clear garbage collected inside the well. Officials believe Lal fainted due to toxic gases inside and eventually drowned.

When Lal did not resurface after 10 minutes, 35-year-old Mahesh went down to check on him. Mahesh also fainted due to the gases and drowned. Both Lal and Mahesh were employed by the contractor firm.

A third man, who was later identified by the police as 26-yearold Bulbul, had gone down to rescue the two victims and ended up suffering the same fate. Bulbul, who is native of Bareilly, was a resident of Loni’s Nasbandi Colony, the police said.

Shameem, a local, who undertook the initial rescue operation, said, “Two of us from the locality went down and tried to retrieve the first two. However, due to the presence of noxious gases, I felt dizzy and had to climb back. Bulbul, who had gone down with me, could not come out.”

The well is nearly 60 feet deep and had nearly four foot of with a heavy presence of toxic gases like methane, officials said.

The operation of the station had been entrusted to a private firm by Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam. The pumping station is located near Dabur Talab Colony and receives sewage from nearby localities. The sewage is later pushed to a treatment plant at Sadullabad.

Soon after the news of the accident spread, police and fire department officials arrived and alerted the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).