Four die while cleaning ‘tank’ in Delhi

New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) Four persons died in the national capital after inhaling poisonous gases as they entered a water harvesting tank to clean it on Saturday, police said.

While police said it was a water harvesting tank, family members of the deceased said that the owner of the building had waste material pipes linked with the tank, but did not tell them about it, which led to their death.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh said police got a call around 10.45 a.m. on Saturday that five persons had fallen into a water harvesting tank in a building in Ghitorni area of south Delhi.

The police officer said that they were taken to different city hospitals where four of them were pronounced dead, while the fifth person survived.

He identified the deceased as Swarn Singh, 45, Deepu, 28, Anil, 23, and Billu, 32 -- all residents of Ambedkar Colony in Mehrauli area.

Swarn Singh's son Satpal Singh said the owner of the building told them that they had to clean the harvesting tank but did not tell them that it was connected with the waste carrying pipes.

"They had connected waste pipes from kitchen and toilet to the tank, and the people who went to clean it had no idea about it," he told IANS.

Satpal's twin brother Jaspal, who had gone inside the tank to save his father, was the only survivor.

"The tank had all sorts of waste and that killed my son. We've filed a police complaint," Billu's father, Satnam Singh, 60, said.