Surat, Apr 7 (PTI) Two men suffocated to death after inhaling toxic gases when they entered a sewer to look for gold particles in Gujarat’s Surat city on Thursday, an official from the fire department said.
The incident took place in Bhagal area of Surat city around 1 am, when the duo entered a sewer through a narrow manhole, chief fire officer Basant Pareek said.
“On getting information from locals, our team rushed to the spot and pulled both the two men out after cutting a pipe in the sewer which was hindering the rescue operation. They were rushed to a hospital in an unconscious state, but were declared dead,” Pareek said.
Locals have claimed that the victims had entered the sewer line passing from a residential area to extract gold powder from muck, as many jewellery-making units are located there and gold particles get washed into the sewer line, he said.
An accidental death report has been registered at Athwalines police station and further probe is underway, a police official said.
According to an eyewitness, some people are involved in separating gold particles from the sewer waste.
“Since there are several jewellery manufacturing units in this area, gold particles get washed into the sewer. The two men came here around 1 am in search of gold. When one of them got unconscious after entering the sewer, the other man stepped in to save him,” a local claimed.
“When one of them started shouting, locals tried to pull them out using cloth pieces. Since we could not pull them out, we called the fire brigade. However, it was too late, as they died due to toxic gases in the sewer,” he added. PTI COR PJT ARU ARU
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