Around 11:50 a.m., a man delivering gas on Nguyen Thuc Duong street in Ngu Hanh Son ward noticed an open manhole cover. As he went to close it, he saw two men lying motionless at the bottom of the drainage pipe. After calling out to them and receiving no response, he contacted the police.

Rescue and recovery personnel work to retrieve the bodies of the two victims. *Photo: Police Department*

Da Nang police dispatched two rescue vehicles and dozens of officers to the scene. After an assessment, they determined the two victims were trapped approximately 8 meters down in the pipe and had died. Their bodies were retrieved within 10 minutes.

Authorities reported the men were hired by a company to clean the drainage pipe for handover to the Da Nang Priority Infrastructure Investment Projects Management Board. They died from asphyxiation while performing the cleaning.

Ngoc Truong