Teenage boy dies after inhaling toxic gas

20 December 2011, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

A teenage boy died after inhaling toxic gas while scavenging for scraps inside a manhole in city's Kamlapur yesterday. The deceased, Mohammad Shabuj, 16 worked as a scavenger, fellow worker Abdur Rahim told reporters. Rahim told reporters that they both went to Calvert Road in South Kamalapur to search for metal scraps inside manholes. Sabuj got down into a manhole around 12:30pm. “When he did not return, I called him several times. He did not respond and so I got down into the manhole myself and found him in an unconscious state. I called for help and people helped me get him out of the manhole,” Rahim said. Shabuj was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where doctors declared him dead on arrival. DMCH sources said there were no signs of injury on his body and they suspected Sabuj might have died from inhaling toxic gas inside the manhole. Akter Hossain, a scrap metal shop owner in South Kamalapur, said Sabuj came from Khulna and had been a scavenger for the last six or seven years. No one knew any more details about him. Officer-in-Charge Toffazzal Hossain of Motijheel Police Station said a team has already visited the spot and DMCH. The dead body was sent to DMC morgue for autopsy, he added.