Five people, including a woman, died of asphyxiation and another fell unconscious Sunday after entering an under-construction septic tank at a village in Odisha's Rayagada district, police said.
Tragedy struck Durgi village in Rayagada when the woman worker, who had entered the tank, was trapped inside and all five men ventured into it one by one in a vain bid to rescue her, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Y Jagannath Rao said.
"All five of them died of suffocation inside the tank. Local residents were able to pull them out only after removing a few concrete slabs on the septic tank," Rao said.
The six victims were rushed to a hospital in the Bissamcuttack area of the district, the ASP said.
"While five of them were declared dead, the sixth person is undergoing treatment at the hospital, and his condition is stated to be serious," Rao said, adding that the bodies have seen for post-mortem.
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