India, Nov. 13 -- Two workers hired to clean the sewage treatment plant (STP)-linked tank filled with sludge in a Powai building suffocated on Wednesday, leaving one Akshay Mandal, 22, dead, and the other, Phulchand Kumar Sahu, 27, critical in the ICU.

While the fire brigade claimed the workers suffocated due to a lack of oxygen in the enclosed space, the BMC's press note claimed that inhalation of poisonous gases was the culprit. No safety equipment was given to the workers, employed by Ultra Tech Pvt Ltd at the Raj Grandeur building in Powai.

"Three migrant workers--Akshay Mandal, Phulchand Kumar Sahu, and Sudam Mandal, 22--were called to clean the septic tank at around 9 am," said Shubham Kothari from the Loktantrik Kamgar Union whic...