Tragedy struck at Ayyappa Society on Saturday when four people including three sanitary workers were found dead in a manhole. The incident took place at around 5.30 p.m when the labourers were working inside the manhole. Officials say the workers from Tarnaka in Secunderabad, Srinivas, Satyanarayana, Nagesh and one other died on Saturday evening after getting trapped in the manhole and inhaling poisonous gas in Hyderabad's upscale area.

Three bodies have been retrieved and further operations are on. They have been identified as Nagesh, Srinivas and Satyanarayana, all residents of Vaddera basti, Manikeshawari Nagar near Osmania University campus. An employee of 108 Ambulance service, Chandu, who went inside the manhole using a rope also fell ill after inhaling poisonous gas. He was rushed to a hospital with breathing problems. The three had been hired by a sub-contractor. Main contractor Loka Reddy had been blacklisted after the June tragedy.

It was on June 28 that a pedestrian Moti Yadav fell into the manhole in Madhapur and was washed away by floodwater. GHMC and water board Officials have launched a search operation for the bodies.A similar incident had happened in the Hitec city area a couple of weeks ago when two persons had died. The workers reportedly entered the 25 feet deep manhole without any safety gear. Compensation of Rs. 2.5 lakh was announced for the family of each victim. A case of causing deaths due to negligence has been filed against the sub-contractor.