Accidental death of 5 workers at wastewater treatment plant in Khaldeh

L'Orient-Le Jour

17-07-2025

Five workers died Thursday while conducting maintenance work at the Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Office wastewater treatment plant in Khaldeh, south of Beirut.
Three of the workers are Palestinian, from the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp near Saida, and the other two are Lebanese. Metn-South Civil Defense teams transported them to the Kamal Joumblatt Hospital in Choueifat and the Bchamoun Specialized Hospital in the Aley district.
Initial reports indicated that the victims "drowned due to the explosion of a water pump," which was denied by the Civil Defense when contacted by our publication. Subsequently, they clarified in a statement explaining the causes of the accident: "One of the workers was cleaning a treatment basin about seven meters deep, where wastewater accumulates and toxic gases are released, which can cause unconsciousness as soon as they are inhaled. While descending into the bottom of the basin by an internal ladder to clean residue trapped between filters, he suffered asphyxiation and collapsed," the statement said.
"Four of his colleagues tried one after another to rescue him, but they also succumbed to the effects of the toxic gases and the lack of oxygen in this confined space, all dying of asphyxiation," the statement continued, emphasizing that "the General Directorate of Civil Defense reaffirms the importance of strictly adhering to safety instructions at work, especially in confined spaces exposed to the release of toxic gases."