2 sweepers die after inhaling toxic fumes from drain

MUMBAI: Two sweepers, Ramkishan Rajuria (30) and his brother Kishan (28), employed with the United Services Club at Navy Nagar died while cleaning a 18-ft-deep drain opposite the club on Saturday evening. The deaths were reportedly caused by the toxic fumes emitting from the drain.
A Major who was passing by saw a crowd near the drain and helped in hauling them out; in the process he also fainted as he inhaled the fume and had to be admitted to the ICU.
"The two brothers went to clean the drain reluctantly, as it was not their regular job. So much of poisonous gas was coming out of the narrow drain that the two of them had to wait for at least 30 minutes after removing the cover,'' said Kishan's wife. The brothers were declared dead before admission to INS Asvini hospital.
Maj Dharamvir Singh, who got the bodies out, said, "With a rope, I climbed down the drain and helped them out one after the other. I found it difficult to breathe inside.'' Singh said the concentration of gas was very high. "It took me around 40 seconds to get each one out. Had I stayed inside for more than a minute it would have been dangerous for me as well,'' he added. He is recuperating at the officers' ward in the same hospital.