A 25-year-old man died on Tuesday, 12 November morning in Chennai at the Express Avenue Mall after he entered a septic tank within the premises to rescue his brother. He was part of a crew of manual scavengers employed by a private agency to carry out this illegal work.
According to the police, a man named Dhandapani had taken five men – Arunkumar, Ranjithkumar, Yuvaraj, Ajithkumar and Sreenath – to Express Avenue Mall at 4am to clean the septic tank. Of the five, Ranjithkumar first entered the septic tank and was cleaning it when he fainted inside due to the poisonous gases. On seeing this, 25-year-old Arunkumar, Ranjithkumar's brother, immediately jumped in to rescue him.
Arunkumar managed to get in and push his brother out. But by then, he was affected by the toxic fumes and died. His body is currently at the Royapettah Government hospital for an autopsy.