Two labourers died after inhaling toxic gas trapped inside a septic tank in a housing plot at Colonel Hat of Chittagong city yesterday morning.
The deceased were identified as Abdur Rahman, 50, of Chandpur and Md Kamal, 50. Police could not trace the latter’s residence.
Farid Ahmed Chowdhury, senior station officer of Agrabad Fire Service and Civil Defence Station, said the accident occurred at about 9:30am when the duo entered the septic tank to remove some bamboos that were used to hold the under-construction structure of the tank.
As the neighbours got no response from them even after an hour of their entry, they informed the police and firefighters.
Firefighters at first blew air inside the tank to make it free from poisonous gas and later entered the tank and brought the bodies out of it, Farid Ahmed said.
Circumstantial evidence shows that the workers died from inhaling toxic gases, he added.
Abdullah Al Harun, one the plot owners, told The Daily Star they built the tank 25 days back for a semi-pucca house intended on the plot.
-With The Daily Star input
