Contractor, labourer die due to suffocation in Pune

A 27-year-old private contractor and a 25-year-old labourer died due to suffocation in a 17 feet deep drainage pipeline at Sadesatra Nali in Hadapsar area on Wednesday morning.

The deceased have been identified as Vijay Verma and Vijay Jha. Both are residents of Malwadi, Hadapsar.

According to the police, Verma is a contractor and used to undertake the contract of cleaning pipelines. He had got a contract from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to clean the drainage pipeline. On Wednesday morning, Jha had gone to Sadesatra Nali to clean the pipeline.

Senior police inspector Pandharinath Mandhare of Hadapsar police station told DNA, “On Wednesday morning, Jha entered the drainage. After some time, Verma also entered the drainage. Later, local residents observed that the duo had not come out for a long time and informed us.’’

Later, the Hadapsar police rushed to the spot with fire brigade personnel and took out the bodies from the drainage. Mandhare said, “The bodies have been sent to  Nobel Hospital for post-mortem. We will hand over the bodies to their relatives on
Wednesday night.’’