Mark
20-04-06, 05:57
Manhole devours four
Web posted at: 4/20/2006 3:22:14
Source ::: The Peninsula
Rescue workers getting a computerised close-circuit mobile camera ready to be lowered into the sewage line to locate the bodies of the victims in Al Mamoura yesterday.
Doha: At least four Asian construction workers died and another was rushed for emergency medical care after they entered a sewage manhole one after the other in Al Mamoura area here yesterday.
Search and rescue officials from the Civil Defence said they suspected that the workers were suffocated to death after being exposed to some highly toxic gas in the sewage line. There was no word about the condition of the worker who was taken to the intensive care unit of the Hamad General Hospital (HGH) until going to the press late in the night.
The incident took place at around 2pm. Five workers, all of them Asians, entered the manhole one after the other. When the first worker who entered the manhole did not return in time, one of his colleagues lowered himself looking for him. This man did not get back too, prompting another colleague of his to get into the killer hole.
This way, five men entered the manhole one after the other. Their sixth colleague got suspicious and fearing the worst, raised alarm. He had the presence of mind to call in the Civil Defence. By 9.50pm, search and rescue officials could fish out the bodies of three victims and they were still looking for the fourth body. Rescuers found it difficult to locate the bodies carried by the force of the sewage flow.
The Civil Defence rushed a search and rescue team equipped with oxygen masks and managed to fish out one of the workers who was unconscious after being exposed to toxic fumes and was immediately rushed to the intensive care unit of the Hamad General Hospital.
Col Abdullah Al Suwaidi, Director of Civil Defence, was present on the site of the accident. He told reporters that his department was informed about the incident at around 2pm and immediately after that a team of search and rescue operators was despatched.
Patrol Police and public security officials from Lakhoya area were also called in. It was discovered that five workers had entered the killer manhole that was six metres deep, he said. A senior Ashghal official Jalal Yusuf Al Salehi said the workers belonged to a private construction company and had no authorisation or expertise to open the tightly secured manhole. They perished since they did not use safety measures like oxygen mask.
It appears that the workers were doing some private work in Al Mamoura and were apparently linking sewage lines of some houses in the vicinity to the main drainage and that was why they opened the manhole.
The nationality of the workers could not be known with officials maintaining they were Asians. Witnesses said they could be Nepalese and Indians. The workers were employed by a contracting firm called RAKO.
Web posted at: 4/20/2006 3:22:14
Source ::: The Peninsula
Rescue workers getting a computerised close-circuit mobile camera ready to be lowered into the sewage line to locate the bodies of the victims in Al Mamoura yesterday.
Doha: At least four Asian construction workers died and another was rushed for emergency medical care after they entered a sewage manhole one after the other in Al Mamoura area here yesterday.
Search and rescue officials from the Civil Defence said they suspected that the workers were suffocated to death after being exposed to some highly toxic gas in the sewage line. There was no word about the condition of the worker who was taken to the intensive care unit of the Hamad General Hospital (HGH) until going to the press late in the night.
The incident took place at around 2pm. Five workers, all of them Asians, entered the manhole one after the other. When the first worker who entered the manhole did not return in time, one of his colleagues lowered himself looking for him. This man did not get back too, prompting another colleague of his to get into the killer hole.
This way, five men entered the manhole one after the other. Their sixth colleague got suspicious and fearing the worst, raised alarm. He had the presence of mind to call in the Civil Defence. By 9.50pm, search and rescue officials could fish out the bodies of three victims and they were still looking for the fourth body. Rescuers found it difficult to locate the bodies carried by the force of the sewage flow.
The Civil Defence rushed a search and rescue team equipped with oxygen masks and managed to fish out one of the workers who was unconscious after being exposed to toxic fumes and was immediately rushed to the intensive care unit of the Hamad General Hospital.
Col Abdullah Al Suwaidi, Director of Civil Defence, was present on the site of the accident. He told reporters that his department was informed about the incident at around 2pm and immediately after that a team of search and rescue operators was despatched.
Patrol Police and public security officials from Lakhoya area were also called in. It was discovered that five workers had entered the killer manhole that was six metres deep, he said. A senior Ashghal official Jalal Yusuf Al Salehi said the workers belonged to a private construction company and had no authorisation or expertise to open the tightly secured manhole. They perished since they did not use safety measures like oxygen mask.
It appears that the workers were doing some private work in Al Mamoura and were apparently linking sewage lines of some houses in the vicinity to the main drainage and that was why they opened the manhole.
The nationality of the workers could not be known with officials maintaining they were Asians. Witnesses said they could be Nepalese and Indians. The workers were employed by a contracting firm called RAKO.