Tangail, June 30 (bdnews24.com) – Five workers died after inhaling toxic gases while working inside an under-construction septic tank at Mirzapur upazila in Tangail district on Saturday morning.

The incident took place at Isail village around 8:30am when the workers tried to clean the underground septic tank.

Firemen recovered the bodies with the help of locals around 11:30am.

The deceased were identified as Rubel Mia (18), Aynal Mia (25), Sajjad Hossain (15), Abdus Samad (32) and Shafiqul Islam (16).

Though the Fire Brigade personnel rushed to the spot around 10am, they could not carry out the rescue operation for not having necessary oxygen reserve. Agitated locals kept surrounded the fire-fighters for around an hour.

Later, a team of the Mirzapur Police Station led by Sub-Inspector Shyamal Dutta pacified the locals.

Dutta told bdnews24.com that Sajjad Hossain, a labourer of the village, descended into the tank to clean the wastes, including pieces of bamboo and timber, kept inside the tank during the construction of the building of one Abdul Hamid.

As Rubel did not respond to the calls of his fellows, the four others hurried down to rescue him, but did not return, the SI added.

The poisonous gas was formed in the tank as it was filled with rainwater and remained covered since its construction, he said.

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