Delhi: Four people who fell into sewer confirmed dead, bodies recovered

The deceased were identified as linemen Bacchu Singh, Pintu and Suraj Sahni, who accidentally fell into the sewer while working to fix wires for a telecom company, and an autorickshaw driver Satish Singh (38), who tried to get inside the sewer to save them, said the police.

A combined team of Delhi Fire Services, the police and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) conducted the rescue efforts. The NDRF teams first attempted to send a diver with equipment to rescue the men but the plan was shelved due to lack of space and oxygen equipment, said officials.The methane gas build-up from the sewer also posed a challenge to the team, said the officials who then deployed excavators to dig the area and recover the four bodies.

Brijendra Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (Outernorth), said the police had received a call around 6.34 pm after the three linemen fell into the sewer. By the time the police reached, all four, including the autorickshaw driver, were trapped under a wooden mesh in the sewer, he said.

“The men were private contractual workers and were doing MTNL wirework. Our teams were on the spot. The NDRF was called after the firemen were not able to pull out the men. We also called excavators to widen the manhole but the men were trapped deep inside,” said the DCP.

DCP Yadav said a case will be soon registered after the police talk to the family of all the four men. The driver, Singh, is survived by his wife and three daughters aged 14,8 and 3.