3 suffocate in under-construction septic tank in Rautahat

RAUTAHAT: Three people died of asphyxiation in an under-construction septic tank at Shukadev Chowk in Yamunamai Rural Municipality-1 in Rautahat district on Wednesday.

Two labourers including a son of the house-owner Wakil Baitha, at whose house the septic tank was being constructed, suffocated in the under-construction septic tank, police said.

The deceased have been identified as Nageshwar Majhi (30) of Gonahi Municipality -2, Bijaya Baitha (31) of Paroha-1 and Muna Baitha (30), the house-owner's son.

At first the two workers died of suffocation when they went into the septic tank to clean it at around 12 noon yesterday, according to police. Similarly, the house-owner's son might have suffocagted in the same way when he went inside the structure to check what had happened.

It has been learned that the septic tank is about 12 feet deep.

The bodies have been taken to the District Hospital, Gaur for the postmortem.

Further investigation into the incident was underway, police said.

A policeman who had gone inside the tank to see the situation after the incident had also fallen unconscious and was rescued by demolishing the septic tank with a help of a dozer. He has now recovered.