Two suffocate to death in Bengaluru manhole

Two civic workers suffocated to death on Tuesday in a choked manhole near a minister's house here, an official said.

"The incident occurred when one of the victims -- Prasanna and Sethu -- entered to clean the clogged manhole but fell into the slush and got stuck. The second victim climbed down to rescue the other but also got buried," the official told IANS.

Though the city fire brigade lifted the two from the manhole and rushed them to a private hospital, doctors declared them dead.

The manhole is located behind the official residence of Health Minister U.T. Khader in Jayamahal area across the sprawling Bangalore Palace grounds.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which hired the two workers to clean the overflowing manhole, ordered an inquiry into the incident.

The civic corporation's sanitation workers association blamed the BBMP contractor for the tragic death of its members.

Elections to 198 wards of the BBMP are due on August 22.