Guwahati News Desk: While cleaning a tank of a pharmaceutical unit in Gujarat, five workers died of suffocation on Saturday.
According to sources, the incident occurred at an effluent treatment plant of a pharmaceutical unit in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, during the afternoon time.
Providing the details about the incident, the Chief Fire Officer of Gandhinagar, Maheshkumar Mod said, “As the plant was shut today, the management had decided to clean the tank, which stores the factory’s liquid waste before it is sent for treatment. Although there was hardly any liquid waste in the tank, the workers were unaware of the presence of toxic gas inside it.”
Meanwhile, the deceased have been identified to be Vinay Kumar, Sushi Bhai, Devendra Kumar, Anish Kumar, and Rajan Kumar. All of them were aged between 30 and 35.
Regarding the incident, initially, only one of the workers had entered the tank to clean it. But he fainted due to the presence of toxic fumes. Soon the others entered one after another to rescue him, but they, too, fainted and died due to the presence of the harmful toxic gas.
Mod added, “One after another, all the five workers went in and fainted after inhaling the toxic gas, which is usually found in tanks that have effluents. On learning about the incident, the Gandhinagar fire brigade rushed to the spot and pulled out the men, who were already dead.”
Moreover, later it was discovered that the factory owners allegedly had not provided any safety equipment or masks to the workers.