Palghar (Maharashtra), April 9 : In a tragedy on the Maharashtrian New Year, four labourers suffocated to death while cleaning and servicing a sewerage treatment plant in Arnala town of the state's Palghar district on Tuesday, an official said.

The incident took place around 11 a.m. at the sewerage project located in a private housing complex, Global City, in the Virar West region.

According to Arnala Police Station Senior Police Inspector Vijay P. Patil, the labourers had entered the sewerage treatment plant, around 30 feet deep, and as they did not come out for quite some time, the project supervisor decided to check them.

As there was no response, the local police and fire brigade were informed and rushed there to launch a rescue operation.

The labourers were extricated from the depths of the sewerage plant and declared dead on admission to a nearby hospital.

The four deceased workers were identified as brothers Amol Ghatale, 27, and Nikhil Ghatale, 24, Sagar Tendulkar, 29, and Shubham Parkar, 28, all said to be local residents.

While it was not immediately clear if they were wearing safety gear and protective face masks, all the labourers reportedly suffocated to death owing to the toxic gases that had accumulated in the plant and could not even raise an alarm for help, locals and eyewitnesses said.

Patil said that the police had earlier lodged an accidental death report which will now be converted into an FIR against the contractor who is likely to be arrested with relevant charges of negligence and other offences slapped against him.

/IANS