A tragedy struck Chhattisgarh on Sunday as five persons, including a woman, died of suspected asphyxiation in a septic tank at a house in Jashpur district, said police. An investigation has been launched into the case.
Two sanitation workers climbed down into the septic tank in Pandripani village, located around 450 km from state capital Raipur, to remove wooden planks, but they did not come out, a local police official told reporters at district headquarters.
Subsequently, two more persons went inside to trace them but they too did not come out following which the house owner’s wife climbed down into the newly-built septic tank.
When none of them came out after hours, a child from the neighbourhood alerted the villagers who rushed to the spot.
Later, bodies of the five persons were pulled out from the septic tank and they were taken to a local hospital where they were declared Rs brought dead’, the official said.
The deceased were identified as Savitri (45), Badu Tam (60), Paramjeet Paikra (19), Ramjeevan Ram (35) and Ishwar Sai (40).
Police claimed that prima facie, it is suspected that they died of suffocation, however, police are awaiting the final autopsy report to ascertain the exact cause of their deaths. A case has also been registered into the incident.