3 die while cleaning hotel’s septic tank in Sriperumbudur

The deceased have been identified as Murugesan (43), Maarimuthu (32) and the hotel employee Ravi (34). 

The accident occured  on Wednesday afternoon as the men were cleaning the semi-solid portion at the septic tank. According to the police, the hotel had given the contract to a private cleaning company in Chennai. Five workers had been dispatched by the company to the hotel to clean the tank when the mishap occurred.

Police said while the cleaning of the liquid portion was done using tankers, the bottom level of the semi-solid portion pile up was flushed using fresh water. 

As the process was in progress, four out of the five workers were present in the tank. But, soon after the smell of gas emanated from the semi solid waste, two men managed to come out and the other two fell unconscious. When Ravi, a hotel employee attempted to rescue the two men, he too fell into the tank. The three men were declared brought dead to the hospital. 

The two employees who managed to come out of the septic tank in time are safe after treatment, police said.