Three sanitary workers asphyxiated

Coimbatore,Feb22 (PTI) Three sanitary workers died ofasphyxiation while cleaning a septic tank of a hotel near theAirport here today and three persons arrested in thisconnection.

Police said one person accidentally fell into the tank,when the cleaning operations were on. The other two fellinto it while trying to rescue him and died after inhalingpoisonous gas inside, police said.

Two contractors of a private agency which had employed theworkers and an engineer of the hotel were arrested, policesaid.

Relatives refused to receive the bodies from the GovernmentHospital, after post-mortem, seeking compensation from thehotel management and also Government, which resulted intraffic disruption for some time.

State Rural Industries Minister, Pongalur N Palanisamy,Collector,P.Umanath, City Police Commissioner, Sylendra Babuand Mayor, R Venkatachalam consoled the relatives.

While Palanisamy assured the next of kin rs.one lakh eachas immediate compensation,the Mayor promised to provide a jobfor one of the relatives of each deceased in the corporation.

Umanath ordered seizure of all lorries and equipmentof underground drainage clearning agencies, which werefunctioning without proper license, as it was brought tohis notice that the agency concerned was without validlicense.