Four Indian-origin Sikh men drown in sewage tank in Italy
Rome, Sep 13: Four Indian-origin Sikh men drowned in a sewage tank on a cattle farm in northern Italy due to the carbon dioxide fumes coming out from the cow manure, according to media reports.
The incident happened on Thursday at a cattle farm in Arena Po near Pavia, a city in south Milan, ANSA news agency reported on Thursday.
Out of the deceased, two were brothers- Prem, 48, and Tarsem Singh, 45- who were running the farm. The duo registered their farm in 2017.
The other two were workers, identified as Arminder Singh, 29, and Manjinder Singh, 28.
Initial investigations reveal that the three men jumped to rescue a worker who was emptying the tank to use the manure as a fertiliser on the farm's fields, the BBC reported.
Investigators suspect that the four died due to the carbon dioxide fumes coming from the cow manure, the report said.
The victims' wives raised the alarm when the men failed to turn up for lunch.
They rushed to the scene and spotted one body in the sewage.
The women then called in the firefighters, who donned masks and emptied the tank to recover all the bodies, the report said.
Italian media reported that the farm, which produces milk and veal cattle, is one of the biggest in the Pavia region.
The Italian Agriculture Minister Teresa Bellanova in a tweet condoled the deaths, saying "safety at work is an inalienable right and we must make every effort to ensure it is respected". She was a farm labourer herself as a teenager.
Italy's public broadcaster Rai said the Arena Po tragedy brings to 486 the total of deaths in work accidents in Italy this year - the highest toll since 2016, the BBC report said.
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Rupee falls 5 paise to 90.22 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee weakened by 5 paise to 90.22 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, amid a strengthening American currency, higher crude oil prices and incessant outflow of foreign funds.
An unprecedented geopolitical concern and global trade uncertainties have accelerated the dollar demand worldwide, adding strength to the greenback and putting pressure on the Indian currency, analysts said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.24 and gained slightly to trade at 90.22 against the greenback in early deals, registering a loss of 5 paise from its previous closing level.
On Monday, the rupee ended 1 paisa higher at 90.17 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.11 per cent higher at 98.73.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.28 per cent higher at USD 64.05 per barrel in futures trade.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,638.40 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex rose 125.96 points or 0.15 per cent to 84,004.13, while the Nifty advanced 47.25 points or 0.18 per cent to 25,837.50.
Analysts attributed the buying trend in equities to the positive cues triggered by strong domestic macroeconomic numbers.
According to government data released on Monday, India's retail inflation rose to a three-month high of 1.33 per cent in December, mainly due to higher prices of food items, but remained below the Reserve Bank of India's lower tolerance level.
Also, the latest data from the Income Tax Department showed the government's net direct tax collection grew about 8.82 per cent to over Rs 18.38 lakh crore in the current fiscal till January 11 due to slower refunds and better corporate tax mop-up.
Net corporate tax collection grew 12.4 per cent to over Rs 8.63 lakh crore, and taxes from non-corporates, including individuals, rose 6.39 per cent to about Rs 9.30 lakh crore.
