The bodies have been rescued and sent for coimbatore government hospital for post mortem.
Three men die after inhaling toxic gases during septic tank cleaning in Saravanampatti
In yet another incident, three men from the city have lost their lives while engaged for cleaning a septic tank in a Pig farm at Keeranatham near Saravanampatti here on Thursday.
According to initial reports, none of the three men have any prior experience in cleaning septic tanks nor are they workers of City Corporation.
Rasappan (38), Vediyappan (26) and Vediyappan (29) are construction workers from the city and were reported to be doing other works like plumbing during dull work days. In this scenario, the three agreed to clean a septic tank at a Pig farm in Keeranatham here on Thursday.
At 11 am, today they commenced the cleaning work. First, Rasappan got into the tank and collapsed inside due to inhalation of toxic fumes. Without knowing it, the other two also got inside the tank and died of asphyxiation.
The bodies have been rescued and sent for Coimbatore Government hospital for post mortem.
Reports also confirm that none of the three workers have used safety gears like masks.
"The Coimbatore City Corporation should create more awareness to the public who employ workers for such cleaning purposes. In this case, the government should ensure the farm owner pays at least Rs. 10 lakh compensation for the deceased", said Selvam from Welfare Association for Adi Dravidar.
He also added that "Despite the high number of deaths of sanitation workers due to lack of required safety gear, the repeated deaths clearly shows lack of empathy and abuse of labour."
The farm owner could be arrested, as he has employed unskilled labour and has failed to provide them protective gears while cleaning.