Bhubaneswar, Oct. 4: Four persons today died of asphyxiation in a septic tank at Mathalput in Koraput. The incident took place at 3pm when they had entered the 10-feet tank.

Police said the deceased had been identified as Raju Khora, Jina Bagh, Babula Mohanty and Bina Bhatra.

"This afternoon, Khora entered the tank through a ladder to clean construction material. But, he could not get out of it and died of suffocation. When he did not come out for long, his assistant Bhatra entered the tank and he also met the same fate. When the other two entered the tank to rescue Khora and Bhatra, they too died," said a police official.

Later, fire officials rushed to the spot and fished out the four and took them to a nearest hospital where they were declared dead on arrival. The cops have sent the bodies for post mortem and are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the exact cause of death.