Four bodies recovered day after manhole mishap in outer Delhi

NEW DELHI: Bodies of four people who died inside a sewer in outer Delhi’s Samaypur Badli area on Tuesday evening were taken out early on Wednesday after a 10-hour-long joint operation by the Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Service and the National Disaster Response Force, officials said.

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The victims were identified as Suraj Sahni (55), a private contractor who had undertaken the MTNL cable repair work, two labourers -- Bacchu Singh (54), a resident of Uttam Nagar, and Pintu Raut (30), a resident of Hari Nagar -- and e-rickshaw driver Satish Kumar (38), a resident of Rohini, who had jumped in the manhole to help the three who were trapped there. .

Delhi Fire Services director Atul Garg said they received a distress call at 6.25pm on Tuesday about three people falling into a sewer, following which four fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North) Brijendra Yadav said that police rushed to the spot immediately. The NDRF team was called around 10pm, officials added.

Garg, who supervised the operation, said that the manhole entry was small and person wearing a breathing apparatus set could not enter the sewer. “Therefore, the area around the manhole had to be dug so that officers could be sent in to rescue the persons trapped inside. Once, an earth mover dug out part of the road, officials were able to enter the sewer and brought out the bodies. The first body was pulled out at 12:30am, the next at 1am and the next 15 minutes later. The last body was pulled out at 3:35am,” Garg said.

All the bodies were then shifted to Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital where the post-mortem examination was conducted on Wednesday, and the bodies were handed over to the family, police said.

Rajesh Kumar, who runs a tea stall near the accident spot, said some sort of cable laying work was going on at the site for nearly a month, and labourers were going in and out of the drain every day. “The MTNL office has shifted from one place to another in this area and that’s the reason these men were working on the cables,” Rakesh claimed, and added that the two labourers were already inside the sewer, when the contractor went inside.

When none of them came out for some time, passersby gathered at the spot, said Rajesh. At the same time, an e-rickshaw driver, Satish, was passing by the road, and stopped to see what was happening. “Nobody was willing to go inside because they knew they might get trapped, but this rickshaw driver removed his wallet and watch and decided to go inside. A scream for help was heard from inside so he said ‘I’ll save them’ and went inside,” the tea-stall owner said. However, none of the four persons came out of the sewer.

DCP Yadav said that a case has been registered under section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. “We have sought details from MTNL on whether the work order on this line was issued. According to the inquiries made so far, the officials have said the work order was not issued but the claims are being investigated,” he said.

MTNL officials did not respond to requests seeking a comment.

Raut’s nephew, Lilandhar Kumar (30), who had come to the mortuary to collect the body, alleged that the regulations that make safety gear mandatory for people who work inside sewers were not followed. “Despite rules, the contractors keep the money and do not provide any safety gear to labourers. People are going to die like this and nothing will happen,” he said.

Raut is survived by his wife, two minor children and mother who live in his native village in Jharkhand. Raut lived in West Delhi’s Hari Nagar.

Dharamvir Singh (31), Bacchu’s nephew, said that the labourer was unmarried and used to live with his brother’s family in Uttam Nagar. “He had been working with this contractor for decades. We were not informed about his death. We got to know in the morning when we went to the contractor’s office,” the nephew said.