4 choke to death inside septic tank

VARANASI: Four persons, including three sanitary staff, choked to death inside a septic tank in a house in Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar (formerly Mughalsarai) of UP's Chandauli district on early Thursday.

State govt has announced a financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each for the families of the victims while Rs 10,000 were released to each family as immediate assistance for cremation. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has condoled the deaths and directed officials in Chandauli district to extend all help to the families.Police said Bharat Jaiswal, a resident of New Mahal in DDU Nagar, had engaged three sanitary workers - Vinod Rawat (35), Kundan (40) and Loha (23) - to clean the septic tank installed at his house.

They entered the tank but soon fell unconscious due to the presence of poisonous gas in the tank. Bharat Jaiswal's son Ankur (23) then entered the tank to save the workers but he too fell unconscious.