Chinese expectant mother killed in septic tank fall outside her home
- Husband dives into sewage in desperate attempt to save his wife and unborn child
- Property company and cover manufacturer pass the buck over blame
A pregnant woman has died after stepping out of her car and falling into a septic tank in eastern China, reviving public concerns over poorly maintained manholes.
The woman, who was 29 and expecting her first child in less than three months, stepped onto the tank’s broken plastic cover near her home in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Tuesday night, according to local newspaper Modern Express.
Her husband made a desperate attempt to rescue his wife, identified only by her surname Ren, from the five-metre (16 feet) deep tank of sewage, but was unsuccessful.
He called the police and half an hour later she was pulled from the hole and rushed to hospital, where both she and the baby were declared dead.
Local authorities said the couple had just arrived at the residential community where they lived. The husband, who was driving, parked the car and she was fetching items from the back seat when the accident happened.
While a police investigation is under way, the manufacturer of the manhole cover and the property management company are passing the buck under intense public scrutiny.