Five months after two siblings died of inhaling poisonous gas while cleaning a septic tank in Coimbatore city, three persons hailing from Dharmapuri were asphyxiated when they were cleaning the septic tank of a pig farm at Keeranatham in the outskirts of Coimbatore on Thursday.
The men died due to suspected inhaling of poisonous gas from a 10-feet-deep septic tank after they ventured into it one after the other, without having any safety apparatus.
The Kovilpalayam police have identified the deceased as P. Vediappan (36), V. Rajappan (45) and another P. Vediappan (27), residents of Simpson Nagar near Edayarpalayam.
The trio had ventured into the work for the first time which turned fatal, said their relatives.
The police said that the incident took place at the piggery run by N. Subramaniam at Poothakaranthottam near Keeranatham around.
Six workers including the three deceased were called to clean the tank measuring 10 feet breadth and 14 feet length.
While three of them went to a shop, the deceased started the cleaning work around 11.30 a.m.
Relatives of the deceased said that Rajappan stepped into the tank first and fainted inside after inhaling poisonous gas.
Though Vediappan (36) got into the tank in a bid to rescue Rajappan, he was asphyxiated.
Vediappan (27) who made a desperate attempt to save the two men also became unconscious inside the tank.
K. Raju, Fire Station Office from Ganapathy and his team reached the place at 12.26 a.m. after alerted about the tragedy.
“The three men were dead when we pulled out from the tank,” said Mr. Raju. The bodies were shifted to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for post-mortem.
The family members and relatives of the deceased were inconsolable as bodies were brought to CMCH mortuary.
Among the deceased, one Vediappan (36) is survived by wife and two children. Rajappan is survived by wife and four children. Another Vediappan was unmarried.
R. Ramesh, a relative of Vediappan said that the deceased were not accustomed with scavenging works and they were into daily wage works.
Responding on the incident, 'Kovai' Ravikumar of Adi Tamilar Peravai, also a coordinator of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, said that Tamil Nadu was in the first place the country in terms of deaths caused by manual scavenging. In the State, Coimbatore stands second to Chennai.
Demand solatium
“It is the responsibility of the District Administration to conduct awareness activities to eradicate manual scavenging under provision of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act. But no such activities have been done.
While five people died on manual scavenging in Coimbatore in 2018, the death toll touched five in six months this year. The State Government should pay solatium of ₹ 10 lakh each to the family of the deceased and give job to one member from each family,” he said.
Meanwhile, wives of two deceased submitted a petition before Coimbatore District Collector which said that the owner of the piggery had called the workers by assuring to give construction work but employed to clean septic tank.
The police said they were yet to receive a complaint from the kins of the deceased.
Later in the night, Revenue Department authorities sealed the piggery.