Mumbai: A 35-year-old man, who was reportedly assigned by the staff of a well-known restaurant chain to clean a blocked sewer line in Borivali on Thursday, died from inhaling toxic fumes. Another man who was given the same task was rescued by fire brigade officials. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the incident occurred because the owner of Hotel Tarachand employed private contractual laborers to forcibly open a manhole for cleaning. 

The incident happened on Shimpoli Road near the Ambaji Dham temple in Borivali West on Thursday afternoon. The hotel staff reportedly sent Sunil Siddharth Wakode, 35, and Ravindra Latekar, 30, to inspect a manhole due to an overflowing drain nearby. The men uncovered the manhole and entered the underground sewer line to assess the issue but were overwhelmed by toxic fumes, according to officials.

“Two individuals were sent by a hotel owner to clean a blocked gutter, even though it is required to notify the BMC before anyone enters a public sewer,” said Sandhya Nandedkar, assistant commissioner of the R North Ward. “The men inhaled a significant amount of toxic fumes when they entered the manhole. One person died, while the other was rescued by the fire brigade,” she added. 

The fire brigade, notified at 4:18 p.m., arrived at the scene at 4:29 p.m., followed by civic and police officials. They managed to rescue Latekar, who is now in stable condition but remains under observation at Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli. Wakode was also taken to Shatabdi Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.

“We are in the process of filing an FIR against the hotel staff under Section 106 (causing death due to negligence) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Anand Bhoite. “We are reviewing CCTV footage to determine the sequence of events and will question the hotel staff to find out who sent the two men into the sewer,” added another police officer.