Tragic manhole incident claims lives of three sanitation workers in Karachi
Tragic manhole incident - Getty images file foto
Karachi, Sep 22, 2025 – Three sanitation workers suffocated to death after falling into a toxic manhole during a nighttime cleaning operation in the Usmanabad neighbourhood, Edhi Foundation officials reported on Sunday, highlighting the perilous conditions faced by low-wage labourers in Pakistan’s urban underbelly.
The incident unfolded near Siddique Wahab Road, where four workers plunged into the open drain while attempting to clear blockages. “Four people fell into a drain near Siddique Wahab Road while cleaning it, three of whom lost their lives, while another remains unconscious,” the Edhi statement detailed.
The victims were identified as 22-year-old Vishal, 19-year-old Shahir, and 42-year-old George.
The sole survivor, 26-year-old Faisal, was rushed to the Civil Hospital’s Trauma Centre in critical condition, while the bodies of the deceased were transported to an Edhi morgue for safekeeping.
Police surgeon Sumaiya Syed confirmed to Dawn.com that the workers “expired in a manhole while cleaning it,” noting that the families had declined a post-mortem examination, a decision rooted in cultural and religious sensitivities common in such tragedies.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Syed Asad Raza provided a grim timeline:
The workers, hired by local Union Council chairman Javed, had begun the hazardous task at 1 a.m. for a meager wage of Rs15,000. “When one of the workers lost consciousness while cleaning, two workers entered the manhole to pull him out… but both fell unconscious later,” Raza explained, underscoring the rapid lethality of the oxygen-deprived, sewage-filled environment.
Such fatalities are alarmingly routine in Pakistan, especially in megacities like Karachi, where dilapidated infrastructure—broken manhole covers, unlit alleys, and neglected drainage networks—poses constant threats to pedestrians and workers alike. The toxic fumes and lack of ventilation in these confined spaces can cause suffocation or drowning in mere minutes, turning routine maintenance into a death trap.
This latest horror echoes a string of similar incidents. Just two days prior, on Friday, three private sanitation workers asphyxiated in an underground septic tank at a cattle farm in Faisalabad.
Earlier this month, on September 11, two workers perished from inhaling toxic gases while cleaning a company’s underground tank at Port Qasim in Karachi. And in June, five men—including a sanitation worker and two brothers—died under identical circumstances in an underground water tank in Karachi’s Ibrahim Hyderi area, as reported by police and rescue officials.
Advocacy groups have long decried the lack of safety protocols, proper equipment, and regulatory oversight for these essential yet undervalued workers, calling for urgent reforms to prevent further loss of life in Pakistan’s shadowed sanitation crisis.
