CHENNAI: In a tragic incident, six persons, including three of same family died of asphyxiation inside a septic tank at a two-storey house in Sriperumbudur on Tuesday. While one of them fell into the tank accidentally, the other five died while trying to save him.
The deceased have been identified as V Krishnamoorthy (55), his sons K Kannan (28) and K Karthik (25), his tenants V Paramasivam (32) and Saurabh (28) and Lakshmikanth (23) who worked at a shop nearby.
Krishnamoorthy runs a grocery and stationery store near his house on Nemili road. On Tuesday morning, he called labourers to clean the septic tank in his property. “They arrived at around 10.30 in the morning, cleaned a portion of it and left to dispose the waste,” says a relative who lives nearby.
“Around 12 noon, when the workers were away, Krishnamoorthy opened the tank to check if it had been cleaned properly. He was hit by the toxic gas from the tank and he fell into it, screaming,” said a senior police officer. “Hearing his father’s screams, Kannan ran out of the shop and entered the tank but did not return. His mother Lakshmi, who was there at the scene, cried for help and then her youngest son Karthik jumped into the tank and he also did not return,” said the relative.
Lakshmi again cried for help and her neighbours Paramasivam and Saurabh Kumar rushed to the spot. First Paramasivam went inside the tank. As he did not return, Saurabh also entered the tank. Hearing Lakshmi cry and as none of them had returned, Lakshmikanth, who was walking by, also jumped into the tank. He was also hit by the toxic gas. Later, fire personnel fished out the bodies one by one.