Four suffocate to death in under-construction septic tank

Four persons died of suffocation in an under-construction septic tank in Bihar's Katihar district today, police said.

The incident occurred at a house in Kothia Bazar area where two labourers identified as Shravan Paswan and Biram Paswan climbed down into the 20 feet deep septic tank to cement it from inside, police said.

"It seems they started suffocating either due to formation of some poisonous gas or due to lack of oxygen.

Finding themselves out of breath, they screamed for help, hearing which two brothers - Ashok Gupta and Rajesh Gupta - from the household entered the tank to save them. They also died there," said Katihar Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Rakesh Kumar.

Hearing the commotion, family members and neighbours rushed to the place and extricated all four persons. They were rushed to a nearby Primary Health Centre (PHC) where they were declared brought dead.

The SDPO said the bodies have been sent to Katihar town for postmortem. The exact reason behind the death could be known only after that.