Woman, her rescuer suffocate to death in open manhole

A woman and her rescuer suffocated to death in an open manhole in the Orangi Town neighbourhood of Karachi on Saturday. The deaths occurred after the woman fell down the manhole and a man jumped after her to rescue her.

According to details, the woman accidentally fell down the manhole near the Bhashani Bakery in Orangi Town Sector 14C within the limits of the Pakistan Bazaar police station. Seeing her fall in, a passer-by jumped after her to rescue her.

After the incident, more people gathered on the site and reported the matter to the police and welfare organisations. Edhi volunteers reached the spot and pulled out the victims, but both of them had already died. Their bodies were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where the woman was identified as 48-year-old Razia Begum, but the identity of the man was yet to be ascertained.

According to the police, there was poisonous gas in the manhole, and the deaths had occurred due to suffocation.

However, they said, the situation would clear up after the medical reports of the victims.