Three labourers die of Toxic fumes in Kovai

Three labourers died after inhaling toxic fumes from a septic tank at Jenney Club in Peelamedu on Tuesday.

Police said the labourers were cleaning the clogged septic tank, and had lowered a machine into the 10ft-deep tank to suck out the sludge. R Ashok, 20, got into the tank to retrieve the equipment and was overcome by the toxic fumes.

Seeing him struggle, A Karthik, 21, and K Anandan, 24, jumped in to rescue him. They too inhaled the fumes and died of asphyxiation.Two contractors who hired the workers and an assistant engineer attached to Jenney Club were arrested on charges of causing death by negligence. "It is a case of negligence on the part of the contractor and the club," said corporation commissioner Ansul Mishra.

Fire and rescue service personnel retrieved the bodies of the three. Relatives of the deceased blocked Tiruchi Road near Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, where the bodies were taken for postmortem.