Photos of 4 family members found dead in sewage hole

Saeed Abdullah Rashid Al Sereidi, 50, his two sons Abdul Aziz Saeed Abdullah, 24 and Ahmad Saeed Abdullah, 23, and son-in-law Mohammad Saeed Rashid, 37, died inside their home’s septic tank while trying to clean the sewage tank.

The sad incident which took place in the Rol Dhana area in Fujairah, in UAE has sparked a debate on the use of chemical substance.

According to the nephew, the tank had been drained by a municipality tanker earlier on Saturday morning. Soon after, Saeed Abdullah Rashid Al Sereidi poured a strong chemical down the bathroom drains leading to the tank for additional cleaning.

When he went into the tank to check the results, the chemical, said to be an acid, reacted with the moisture and produced a deadly toxic gas, Gulf News reports. By the time family members could understand what was happening, it was already too late for the four victims.

“All the poison went on my uncle’s face and he fell down. He called his wife for help but she couldn’t do anything. She went back inside and told his sons, ‘help your dad!’ One of his sons went directly into the tank, felt dizzy and fell. His brother went in after him and the same thing happened. Then she started screaming and her son-in-law, who was a neighbour, came and jumped inside as well. He smelt something and fell down,” he explained.

The victims were rushed to Fujairah Hospital, where they were declared dead on arrival. Their bodies were later shifted to the forensic laboratory for a post-mortem and will be handed over later to their family for burial.

“The tragedy is that they died in their attempts to rescue each other,” Lieutenant Colonel Dr Saeed Al Hassani, acting director of Media and Public Relations Department in Fujairah Police, told Gulf News,