Pune, Aug. 15 -- In a tragic incident, three workers lost their lives due to suffocation while laying optical fibre cables in a drainage chamber in the Nigdi area of Pimpri-Chinchwad on Friday, said a senior police official.

According to Bhojraj Misal, Police Inspector of Nigdi police station, the workers had entered the chamber to carry out BSNL's optical cable-laying work when they collapsed inside, allegedly due to a lack of oxygen.

Despite immediate efforts to rescue them, all three were declared dead.

The incident took place around 3.30 pm today. The deceased have been identified as Datta Holare, Lakhan Dhawre and Sahebrao Girsep, all contractual workers.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, and further investigation into t...