India, Aug. 16 -- Three contract workers died of suffocation while working inside a BSNL inspection chamber on Friday in the Pradhikaran area of Nigdi. The workers had entered an underground chamber to carry out maintenance work on optic fibre cables, said the police.

The deceased have been identified as Datta Holare and Lakhan Dhavare, residents of Gurudwara Chowk in Akurdi, and Sahebrao Girase of Bijlinagar. An official from BSNL said that all three were contract based employees for BSNL's Akurdi office.

According to the police, the incident raised serious concerns regarding the safety measures for contract labourers in utility and telecom services.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the deceased may have faced a lack of oxygen ...