Toxic gas kills three, injures one in Faisalabad

FAISALABAD: Three people were killed and one critically injured on Sunday after coming in contact with what locals said was toxic gas.

Rescue officials said Ashfaq, a resident of Rashidabad, descended into a sewer to open a closed gutter line as authorities had failed to pay heed to the neighbourhood's woes. 

When he failed to return after a while, brothers Ijaz and Shahzad went down to rescue him but they too fell unconscious and did not return. It was then that another resident, Manzar, went down and saw all three had fainted. 

Manzar himself fell unconscious after coming in contact with the toxic gas. 

Locals said Ashfaq died on the spot whereas Ijaz and Shahzad passed away after they were taken to Allied Hospital for treatment. 

Hospital officials said Manzar's condition is critical.  

After the incident, relatives of the deceased and locals began protesting against the authorities and placed the bodies at Akbarabad Chowk, resulting in blocking of traffic. 

They were chanting slogans against the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) for failing to resolve their municipal issues which forced the deceased to go down into the sewer themselves. 

Talking to Geo News, local WASA chief Chaudhry Faqeer said it is a very unfortunate incident. He claimed there is no sewage issue in the area, as claimed by residents. "There is not even a one per cent fault of WASA in this case," he claimed. 

Faqeer said the locals attempted to connect a local line with WASA's main line which led to the incident.