Municipal workers asphyxiated to death

Two municipal workers were asphyxiated to death yesterday after they entered a 15-feet deep manhole at Mandya near here for cleaning.

The death of the municipal workers in Mandya comes less than a day after a rescue workers extricated the dead body of a nine-year-old boy from an abandoned borewell at Neeramanavi village in north Karnataka’s Raichur district.

Police said municipal workers Shankarappa and Palani died after consuming poisonous gas in the manhole. Another municipal worker Mahadev, who fell unconscious, is recovering at a hospital in Mandya.
The tragedy took place after the municipal authorities deputed the trio to attend to a choked manhole in a residential area in Mandya yesterday. Shankarappa and Mahadev collapsed within seconds after entering the manhole. Palani managed to pull out Mahadev from the manhole. But, while trying to save Shankarappa, he too succumbed to the poisonous fumes emanating from the manhole