MUZAFFARGARH
Four sanitary workers died of suffocation in a sewage manhole in Muzaffargarh city on Saturday.
Another six workers fainted and have been hospitalised in DHQ Hospital Muzaffargarh, said hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr Mushtaq Rasool.
The deceased workers are identified as 18-year-old Mureed Hussain, 20-year-old Amer Abbas, 25-year-old Abid Hussain and 25-year-old Muhammad Shaukat.
According to the administration, the sanitary workers were cleaning a sewer line when the incident occurred.
Following the incident, heirs of the deceased workers blocked Muzaffargarh-Alipur Road in protest against the poor working conditions.
They alleged the deceased sanitary workers had not been paid salaries for the past four months. They claimed that the TMA officials asked them to first clean the sewer line then they would be paid salaries. “There were no safety measures and gear and the TMA officials forced the workers to go down into the manhole which claimed their lives,” they alleged.
DCO Hafiz Shaukat Ali and DPO Awais Ahmed Malik rushed to spot and ordered an inquiry into the mishap which claimed four lives.
The DCO assured the bereaved families of compensation and said that action would be taken against any official found negligent.
He also constituted a committee to probe the incident.
The police have registered a case and started investigation.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also took notice of the mishap.
Rescue 1122 performance: District Emergency Officer Dr Syed Maid Ahmad said that Rescue 1122 received a total of 7,493 calls, of which 1,045 calls were related to different emergencies last month.
Sharing details of Rescue 1122 performance in July, he informed that these calls included 254 calls of road accidents, 587 of medical emergencies, two of fire incidents, 41 calls were received from people requesting aid to victims of crimes, two calls were related to building collapsed incidents and 158 calls were pertaining to different emergencies.
He said that Rescue 1122 also shifted 844 affected persons to different hospitals. He claimed average response time of the rescuers remained 7 minutes.