Koraput: At least four persons died of asphyxiation Tuesday in a septic tank at Mathalput under Damanjodi police limits in Koraput district, the police said.
The deceased were identified as Raju Khora, Bina Bhatra, Jina Bagh and Babula Mohanty, they said.
Khora, a mason by profession, had constructed the septic tank about 20 days ago at the backyard of his home.
According to sources, the incident took place when he entered the tank, over 10-feet deep, through a ladder to clean it. However, he couldn’t get out of it and died due to suffocation inside the tank, Sahadev Mohapatra, the inspector-in-charge (IIC) of Damanjodi police station said.
As Khora didn’t come out for a long time, his assistant Bina Bhatra entered the tank and got suffocated to death too. Jina and Babula, who were residing near Khora’s residence, also went inside the tank tp rescue the duo but got stuck and similarly died of asphyxiation, the IIC said. The bodies were recovered by fire brigade personnel belonging to the National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and were sent to the district headquarters hospital for post-mortem. PNN