Trio die of manhole poisoning

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Three Indonesian contract workers in their 20s and 30s died of suspected gas poisoning while cleaning a sewerage manhole at the Bukit Minyak Industrial Area here yesterday. 

The dead were identified as Teuku Hamli Teuku Muhd and Khaliluddin Hassan while the other was only known as Nanang. 

BLEAK TASK: Fire and Rescue Services Department personnel bringing out one of the three men who died in the manhole in Penang Monday.

Their bodies were sent to the Bukit Mertajam hospital for a post-mortem. 

Two other Indonesians, Muzakkin Mohamad Noor and Muslim Muhamad, were admitted to the same hospital.  

One has been discharged while the other is under observation although his condition is stable. 

In the 4pm incident, Muzakkin and Muslim heard cries for help from their three colleagues who were cleaning the manhole.  

The two tried to enter the manhole to save their friends who had collapsed but the gas fumes were too strong for them. 

Bukit Mertajam Fire and Rescue Services Department senior fire officer Rohana Mustafa said: “We believe they could have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.” 

Nanang’s brother-in-law Mohamed Hakim Abdul, 29, said: “I was working on the island when a friend called to tell me about the incident.  

“I don’t know how to break the news to my wife (Nanang’s sister).” 

Mohamed Hakim, a gardener, said his 21-year-old brother-in-law from East Java had been working here for the past two years.