Hyderabad, March 2 -- In a tragic incident, three sanitation workers died due to asphyxiation while cleaning a manhole at Kulsumpura on Friday evening.

The deceased persons are M Srinivas, 40, V. Hanmanth, 42, and M. Venkateshwar Rao, 40.

The police said Srinivas, a sanitary worker, and a couple of other workers were hired to clean manholes by a company.

"On Friday evening Srinivas opened the manhole cover, lost his balance and fell into it. His co-workers Hanmanth and Venkateshwar Rao jumped into the manhole to save Srinivas but fell unconscious as they inhaled the poisonous gas and died," Kulsumpura sub-inspector B. Manmohan Goud told Siasat.com.

The victims were hired on daily wages by the Ayyappa Infra contract agency, on a daily ...