NEW DELHI: A day after three private contract workers and a rickshaw driver fell into a sewer line in Delhi's Rohini Sector 16, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Wednesday recovered their bodies. Assistant Commandant, NDRF Niwas said, "The rescue operation was completed early morning and the bodies were sent to the Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital in Jahangirpuri."
The workers have been identified as Bacchu Singh (54), Pintu (30) and Suraj Kumar Sahni (55) while a fourth person, an e-rickshaw driver identified as Satish Ratan Lal (38). Bacchu Singh, Pintu and Suraj Kumar Sahni, were reportedly conducting wiring work for the telecom company MTNL in the sewer at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar's Main Bawana Road on Tuesday evening.
According to the police officials, three of them had got trapped in the sewer. After hearing cries for help, one of the e-rickshaw drivers going from that route had stopped in an attempt to rescue them. He also fell into the sewer. The incident took place in northwest Delhi's Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar.
Bachchu Singh was unmarried and used to stay in Rohini with his brother's family. Singh's nephews Dharamveer who was present outside the mortuary of Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital in Jahangirpuri to collect his uncle’s body said, "He was into contractual work for the 30 years and there were days when he would not return home at nights due to the workload, would do in the morning."
Another worker who lost his life was 30-year-old Pintu Raut who used to live with his fellow workers in Gopal Nagar at a rented room. Pintu is survived by his wife Sulekha Devi, 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter who were in the native village in Bihar at the time of the incident. Pintu was working as a sewer man for the past five years.
His colleague Lilandhar Kumar said that he along with his friends will take Pintu's body to Bihar.
Another worker was 54-years-old Suraj Sahni, resident of Tilak Nagarwho was killed in the incident. Sahni has been survived by his wife, a married daughter and a 27-year-old son Piyush. Sahni was into this job for the last 15 years.
Piyush, Suraj's bereaved son present outside the mortuary was seen completing the police formalities. Piyush however was not in the condition to speak. The sewer man earns approximately Rs 15,000 per month and slogs away their lives throughout the day. Satish Ratan Lal used to live with his family in Rohini Sector 16.
He has been survived by his mother, wife and three young daughters. Satish's elder brother Kishan who was at the hospital, said, "My brother had no role in that, he was just a passerby and just to help those people."
Tragic event
Four men trapped inside a sewer in northwest Delhi’s Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar
Rescue operation started around 6:30 pm on Tuesday
Bodies pulled out on Wednesday morning
Post-mortem will be conducted at Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital
3 men were private contractual employees of MTNL
1 man was a rickshaw driver