Guwahati: Four men died Tuesday while cleaning an underground water tank at a new home in the Kumarpara area of Assam. The tragedy struck in the Barkhola constituency of Cachar district. The house owner hired three laborers for the job, but the task turned lethal quickly.
One worker entered the tank and lost consciousness immediately. Two others followed him in, hoping to pull him out. They collapsed too. A fourth person then climbed in to check on the group, but he also succumbed to the fumes. Local accounts confirmed the victims were Niloy Pal, Debashish Pal, Nandan Pal, and Sampu Pal.
Before the State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force teams reached the Machimpur site, a local RSS worker named Dibyendu Das entered the tank. Residents claimed the air remained deadly. Das risked his life to retrieve all four bodies.
Police officials, including the DSP of Crime, arrived shortly after to secure the scene. They have launched an investigation into the cause of the deaths. Grief has paralyzed the neighborhood. Many shops shuttered their doors today. As one resident put it, the incident has "cast a pall of gloom over the entire locality."
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