A manhole at a construction site on the Kirkuk–Sulaymaniyah road where two workers died and another was injured while cleaning the drainage system in Derwaza neighborhood, Kirkuk.
Two workers die, one injured in Kirkuk drainage accident
KIRKUK — Two construction workers died and another was seriously injured Wednesday while cleaning a drainage system in Kirkuk’s Derwaza neighborhood, eyewitnesses told 964media.
“A short time ago, the bodies of the two workers were transferred to the forensic doctor in Kirkuk, and the injured worker was taken to the hospital,” a witness at the scene said.
The men, employees of a private company contracted to renovate the Kirkuk–Sulaymaniyah road, entered a three-meter-deep manhole to clear rainwater when they were overcome by trapped gas, according to initial reports.
The accident follows a series of workplace deaths in Kirkuk. On Sept. 13, one worker died and another was seriously injured after falling from scaffolding at a site in the same neighborhood. “The body of a worker named Azhar Karam, 35 years old, was brought to the forensic doctor, and another worker named Eyad Yousif, 20 years old, who was seriously injured, was brought to our hospital,” a source at Azadi Hospital told 964media at the time.
On Sept. 6, two other workers died in separate incidents—a 36-year-old painter who was electrocuted on Doctors Street, and a 45-year-old electrician who fell from a utility pole near Shoraw neighborhood. Both were married and fathers.
The latest incident brings Kirkuk’s total to six workplace deaths and two serious injuries in the past two weeks.