4 fall into the sewer in Delhi, rescue efforts underway

The incident took place in northwest Delhi's Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar. The three men who fell inside first are private contractual employees who were working on MTNL lines at the time of the incident.

New Delhi: Three workers fell into a sewer here on Tuesday and a rickshaw puller who tried to save them also got trapped inside with rescue operations continuing late into the night, police said. The incident took place in northwest Delhi's Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar. The three men who fell inside first are private contractual employees who were working on MTNL lines at the time of the incident, police said. It is feared that all four have died as there has been no movement for the last few hours, they said.

According to the police, the information about the incident was received at Samaypur Badli police station around 6.30 pm. Police personnel rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. Fire department officials and a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are also part of the rescue operation. Rescue efforts are underway and none of the four has been pulled out yet, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North) Brijendra Kumar Yadav said. The workers have been identified as Bacchu Singh, Pintu and Suraj Kumar Sahni, while the rickshaw puller has been identified as Satish (38), a resident of Sardar Colony, Rohini Sector-16, police said. The rickshaw puller is a hero as he tried to save the workers. But he also got trapped inside the sewer, they said.

There is an iron net inside the sewer and it is beneath the MTNL lines. It is suspected the four are stuck there, they added. Due to the presence of toxic gas in the sewer, it is difficult to go inside even with protective gear. Earth-moving machines are being used to widen the manhole for rescue workers to get inside, police said. Talking to reporters, a local, Harinder Singh, said that Satish is his friend's brother. "We came to know that Satish went inside the sewer to help the others but now he is also trapped inside," he said.

PTI