Sewage cleaning job claims another two lives in Mumbai

Two sanitation workers drowned in a sewage chamber in suburban Goregaon, the police said on Wednesday.

Last month, five deaths of sanitation workers had been reported in the city.

The latest tragedy took place near Hub Mall in Goregaon (East) on Tuesday afternoon, a police official said.

The deceased were identified as Arunkumar Patel (43) and Manoj Goswami (41).

The official said that according to the preliminary information, Goswami entered the sewage chamber to put some cleaning implements inside. When he did not return for twenty minutes, Patel followed him.

When both failed to return, their colleague alerted the police. Both were found to have drowned inside.

Case of accidental death was registered at Vanrai police station in Goregaon and the police were trying to find the contractor who had hired them, the official said.

On December 23, three contract labourers died while cleaning the septic tank of a residential building in suburban Govandi, while on December 16, two labourers died while cleaning a drainage chamber in Kurla.