Two drown at municipal sewage works
Investigation to follow
06 February 2020 | Accidents
Two people died in an incident at the Water Section of the Walvis Bay Municipality earlier today.
The chief of the Walvis Bay fire brigade Dennis Basson said that a call regarding an incident involving someone being stuck in a pipe was received at around 13:00 from E-Med Rescue 24.
“When we arrived at the scene, we found two people under water in one of the pump stations. Unfortunately it was too late to resuscitate the victims. We are unsure of what exactly happened and will conduct an internal investigation into the matter.”
Basson confirmed that the two men died while they were working in the pump station. One of them was employed at the municipality while the other was an employee working for a private contractor.
He said that five persons were actually involved in the incident. The other three were rushed to hospital.
Basson could not confirm the possibility that the workers may have inhaled a poisonous gas while working in the pump station.
This is the second incident within two days in the habour town where a person died while on duty.
On Wednesday morning, a 28-year old Angolan was hit from behind by a truck at the NamOPS Company yard. According to the regional police report, Israel Hamutenya was retrieving his safety gear which he kept in a drain at work when he was run over by a truck driving out of the yard. He died on the spot.
Hamutenya was contracted by NamOPS to interlock the yard. His next of kin have been informed.