Three die inside manhole during cleaning

Two sanitation workers and the contractor who had employed them died of suffocation in a manhole at Panvel in neighbouring Raigad district, police said Wednesday.

The incident took place at Kalundre village Wednesday evening, a police official said.

The labourers were engaged in cleaning a sewage line when they apparently suffered suffocation due to poisonous gases inside a manhole, he said.

Two of the deceased were identified as Vikas Mhaskar, the contractor, and Santosh Waghmare, a labourer. Identity of the third person is yet to ascertained.