New Delhi: Soni was going to deliver lunch around 1 pm to her husband who was working as a labourer in northwest Delhi, but she was in for a rude shock. "When I reached the location, I could not find anyone there," Soni, the wife of Sher Singh (30), said. "When I looked into the septic tank, I saw that all the five persons were lying there. I started shouting, but nobody came to rescue."

Two contractual workers died after apparently inhaling toxic gas when they entered the septic tank of a semi-built plot in Bhagya Vihar area of Prem Nagar in Rohini on Tuesday. Soni's husband was among three persons who are hospitalised. Soni said her sister's husband came there and entered the tank after tying a rope around his west, and pulled the persons out of the tank. They called the ambulance and took them to a hospital, the mother of four said, adding that Sher Singh is the sole breadwinner. Soni said among the injured persons, Rambir is her brother-in-law, who is unmarried and used to live in the same locality.