India News | 4 Men Who Were Trapped Inside Sewer in Northwest Delhi Die

New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) Four men who were trapped inside a sewer in northwest Delhi's Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar area have died and their bodies were pulled out on Wednesday morning following an overnight rescue operation, officials said.

Of the four, three men were private contractual employees who were working on MTNL lines at the time of the incident on Tuesday afternoon, police said. The fourth was an e-rickshaw driver who had tried to save the three workers but also got trapped in the sewer.

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However, a senior MTNL official said, "They were not working for MTNL. It was an unauthorised access to a duct as per details made available by field officers concerned. Neither any contract or work order was issued by MTNL."

The operation to rescue the four people started after the Samaypur Badli police station got information about the incident around 6.30 pm on Tuesday.

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Besides police personnel, fire department officials and a team of the National Disaster Response Force were also part of the rescue effort.

According to the fire department, the operation ended around 4 am on Wednesday with the four bodies pulled up from the sewer. The post-mortem was conducted at the Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital.

The deceased workers have been identified as Bacchu Singh, Pintu and Suraj Kumar Sahni. The rickshaw puller, Satish Ladwal, was a resident of Sardar Colony in Rohini Sector-16.

Sahini was also the contractor for the project, police said.

A senior police officer said that a case under section 304A (causing death by negligence) has been registered at the Samaypur Badli police station and investigation is in progress.

Officials said, "The rickshaw puller, who tried to save the workers, was a hero. But he also got trapped inside the sewer."

There is an iron net beneath the MTNL lines inside the sewer. It was suspected that the four got stuck there, they added.

Toxic gas inside the sewer made the rescue operation difficult even with protective gears. Earth-moving machines were used to widen the mouth of the sewer, police said.

Satish, the rickshaw puller, is survived by his wife Neha (35) and three daughters -- Tisha (14), Kritika (8) and Arbi (3).

"Satish was the youngest among us five brothers. He was a gym instructor-cum-bouncer and later, started driving an e-rickshaw after the Covid lockdown hit the gym business," his elder brother Krishan Ladwal said.

He was not financially sound, but always used to come forward to help others, Krishan said.

Pintu's nephew Lilandhar Kumar said had he known about his uncle's job, he would have asked him to leave it.

"He was uneducated and he had no idea about his rights. He did not tell anyone about his job. When I asked him where he was working, he told me that he was employed with the electricity department. Now we know he was working for a contractor. If he was doing this kind of a job, then he should have asked for safety gears from the contractor," Kumar said.

Pintu, who used to live in Hari Nagar here, was from Dumka in Jharkhand. He is survived by his wife and two children -- 12-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son.

He was the sole bread winner of the family. Now the future of his children is not sure, Kumar, who lives in Burari and is preparing for a government exam, said.

"We will send the body to his native place in Jharkhand and I will remain here for legal formalities. He went to his home last in January and was planning to go again in May for a marriage function," he said.

Sahani, the contractor, also lost his life in the incident, police said.

His relative Pawan Malhotra said that Sahani (55) was in this business for many years. "We got a call from another labourer who was at the site. The labourer said Sahani has fallen into a manhole. His body was pulled out around 2 pm," Malhotra said.

Sahani is survived by his wife, daughter and son. He used to live in Tilak Nagar area.

The nephew of Bacchu Singh (56) said that they got to know about the incident on Wednesday morning.

"My uncle and used to live with us. Many times, he used to stay out at night for his work. Last night, when he did not come, we thought he must be at a site. However, this morning around 6, we got to know that he has died," said Dharamvir Singh.

Bachhu's younger brother Bani Singh said he did not get married and used to live with the elder brother's family.

He was doing this work for almost 40 years, said Bani, who works as a mason and lives in Uttam Nagar area.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)