Patna, Oct 16 (IANS): Three members of a family died while cleaning a sewage tank in Bihar’s Darbhanga district on Tuesday, an official said.

The incident took place in the Nauvagadhi Ramtola locality, under the jurisdiction of Vishwavidyalaya police station. The victims have been identified as Sushil Kumar Ram (30), Naval Ram (22), and Sudhir Ram (29). Following the incident, a large number of people assembled in front of the victim’s house.

The tragic event unfolded as the three men were trying to clean and sanitise the sewerage tank of their old house. While doing so, they were exposed to toxic gases from the tank, which caused them to lose consciousness.

Family members who noticed the situation quickly rescued them and rushed them to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), where doctors declared them dead during the treatment.

After the incident, district police recovered the dead bodies and sent them for the postmortem.

This incident has raised serious safety concerns especially since people have a practice to clean sewerage tanks without proper safety gears.

On October 7, a construction worker suffocated to death while four others became critically ill while cleaning a septic tank in Purnea district. The septic tank was unused for the last two years.

Upon entering the tank, the workers inhaled the harmful gas and fell unconscious. The deceased was identified as Raja Mahaldar (28).

On August 21, 2024, four people died due to suffocation in the septic tank of a newly constructed house in the state capital Patna. The ill-fated incident took place in Purai Bagh of the Barh subdivision police station area.

All the deceased had gone inside to open the centre of the newly constructed toilet tank where they suffocated inside and died due to lack of oxygen.

The local villagers rescued the victims and took them to the Barh sub-divisional hospital but doctors had declared them dead on arrival.