KARAK: Four people died when they inhaled poisonous gas while cleaning a sewer in Karak city on Wednesday.

Residents said that two Christian sanitary workers were cleaning a sewer in Karak city when they fell unconscious after inhaling poisonous gas. Later, three members of the family who had hired the sanitary workers went into the sewer to rescue the workers and they also fell unconscious after inhaling the poisonous gas.

Later, local people retrieved four bodies and one injured from the sewer and shifted them to the women and children hospital.

The dead were identified as Yousaf Masih, Shamaoon Masih, Aamir Bashir and Sher Zaman. The injured man, Akhtar Zaman, was referred to Peshawar in a precarious condition.

On this occasion, local residents criticised the district health authorities, saying that no water was available in the hospital to wash the bodies and the injured man. They said that the local fire brigade office provided water to the hospital for cleaning the bodies.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2016