Three people engaged in construction work of a septic tank in a village in Odisha’s Sambalpur district died of asphyxiation, police said on Saturday.
The tragic mishap occurred at Pukuda village falling under Jamankira police station jurisdiction in Sambalpur district.
The victims, according to police, are sanitary workers who were engaged in the construction of the private septic tank. The deceased have been identified and their bodies have been sent for postmortem. Another worker rescued from the septic tank, has been hospitalised, police said.
The victims might have died of asphyxiation after inhaling toxic gaseous substances inside the chamber, they added.
Seeing the workers stuck inside the tank, locals tried to save the victims by dragging them from the chamber. They were rushed to the government-run hospital where they were declared brought dead, police said, adding that an unnatural death case has been registered in this connection.
Further investigation of the incident is underway, police concluded.