KARACHI, June 17: Two sanitary workers and a fireman died from inhaling poisonous gas emanating from an age-old underground drainage pipeline, which was being replaced with a new one at Pakistan Chowk in the small hours of Sunday morning.

As a sanitary worker went into a deep manhole to replace the line with a new one, he cried out for help after smelling poisonous gas. The ropes meant for pulling out workers in case of an emergency apparently broke apart and a second worker went into the manhole to try and rescue his comrade.

However, both the sanitary workers could not be pulled out and fell unconscious in the manhole, sources in the Water Board said, adding that the fire brigade was called. A fireman, Nazeer Ahmed, who thought the gas might have discharged by then, also descended into the hole but met the same fate.

Later, other firemen wearing protective masks descended into the hole to pull out the three unconscious men. All three were sent to a hospital where they were declared dead.

The deceased sanitary workers were identified as Danish Rehmat and Irfan.

Sources in the Water Board claimed that the two sanitary workers died from poisonous gas as they could not be pulled from the deep manhole due to improper precautionary measures.

However, a press release issued by the Water Board said that a rope meant for pulling out the sanitary workers broke apart while attempts were being made to rescue them. The press release added that all necessary precautionary measures were taken and the workers died while performing their official duty.

The Managing Director of the KWSB, Ghulam Arif, directed the Chief Engineer Projects, Mashkoorul Hasnain, to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit his findings within 15 days.