KARACHI: Two persons drowned in an uncovered manhole on a main road in Orangi Town within the remit of the Pakistan Bazaar police station on Saturday evening, police and rescue services said.

Area SHO Sohail Khaskheli said that a woman, identified as Shazia, 45, was walking home from her workplace when she fell in an uncovered manhole near Bhashani Bakery in Orangi’s Sector-14.

He said that a passer-by witnessed this and in a bid to save her he also jumped in the drain but could not save himself or her.

Area people gathered there and informed the police, which called rescue teams.

An Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that their divers pulled out both the man and woman from the drain and shifted them to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.

He said that apparently both of them died of inhaling toxic fumes in the drain.

The SHO said that the manhole was uncovered as the road was dug up and being reconstructed.

He said that the identity of the male victim could not be ascertained till late in the night. The body was shifted to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2023