Coimbatore : Three workers died of asphyxiation on Thursday, while they were cleaning a wastage pit in a white pig farm in Keeranatham on the outskirts.

The farm owner, Subramani, was rearing pigs and the waste was dumped in a 10 feet deep pit and cleaned at regular intervals, police said.

Three workers from Edayarpalayam in the city were cleaning the pit this morning and one man, who went in the pit and suddenly developed breathlessness due to the poisonous gas and fell inside, they said.

Seeing this, other two workers also jumped to rescue the man.

However, all the three got asphyxiated and died inside, they said.

The workers in the farm stood there for fear of losing their pwn lives.

On information Fire and Rescue personnel rushed to the farm and brought out the bodies and sent these to the Government Hospital here for postmortem.

Further investigations are on, police said.