Seven die cleaning Indian hotel septic tank

AHMEDABAD: Seven people have suffocated to death while cleaning a hotel septic tank in western India without safety gear, police said on Saturday.

The hotel owner has been charged with causing death due to negligence following the incident on Friday night in Gujarat state’s Vadodara district, a police official said. Four of those who died had been called to clean the tank while three others were hotel employees who were assisting.

Hundreds of thousands of mostly low-caste Indians are employed as “manual scavengers” who clear underground pipes and septic tanks without any protective gear or masks.

“One person first entered the tank, but when he did not come out and did not respond to calls, three other cleaners went inside to help him,” said Vadodara fire officer Nikunj Azad who was leading the rescue operations.

When all four did not emerge after some time, the three hotel employees entered the tank, all seven of them losing their lives in the process, Azad added. “Their bodies have been brought out and sent for postmortem,” he said. Deaths from asphyxiation in sewers full of noxious gases are frequently reported across the country. Last year five people died in New Delhi while cleaning a sewage treatment tank.