WORKER DIES WHILE CLEANING SEWAGE TANK

MUMBAI: A worker died due to suffocation while cleaning a sewage tank in Vasai East on Tuesday. According to the Waliv police, around 12.40pm on Tuesday, a shopkeeper Rahul Pawar informed the police that a worker had entered a sewage tank located at the Evershine Industry in Chinchpada on Vasai East but did not come out for more than 20 minutes.

The police alerted the fire brigade of Vasai who reached the spot within five minutes and began the rescue operation. The police officers said that the worker identified as Tirupati Ganpat Bhutte was fished out by the fire brigade personnel and rushed to the DN Petit Hospital in Vasai West where he was declared dead during treatment.

The police officers said that they have registered an accidental death report and are investigating the incident. “We have informed the family of Bhutte and are trying to find out who Bhutte was working for,” said a police officer from Waliv police station. The police are now tracing the contractor who had employed Bhutte and why was the contractor not present at the spot or anyone supervising the cleaning of the tank.

“There were no safety gears found at the spot as we suspect that Bhutte died of suffocation inside the sewage tank,” added the officer. On April 9, four young men from Virar East who were employed by a private contractor died when they were working inside a 30-foot-deep sewage treatment plant. The workers were undertaking a clean-up operation at the plant in Virar West, and they likely died of suffocation. Police have booked Ploycom, the contractor, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.