Three workers die of toxic gas while cleaning tank at Tata Electronics unit near Hosur

Three contract workers died after breathing in toxic gas while cleaning a wastewater treatment tank at a Tata Electronics plant near Hosur in Krishnagiri district on the evening of 9 November, police said.

The deaths happened at the company’s Marigold plant at Vanniyapuram, near Rayakottai. The plant makes parts for iPhones, ETV Bharat reported. Police are looking into whether safety rules for work inside closed tanks were followed.

What happened

The workers went into the tank at about 5 p.m., ETV Bharat reported. It was a feed tank for the plant’s nano-filtration system, which treats wastewater. Chemical powder had been used in the tank to cut down the smell, a police officer said.

“We suspect that the chemical may have triggered the release of toxic gas inside the tank,” the officer told DT Next.

Other workers pulled the three out and took them to a private hospital in Hosur, where they were declared dead. Their bodies were sent to the Krishnagiri Government Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination. No one else was reported hurt.

The dead were two men, aged 25 and 28, from Dharmapuri district, and a 32-year-old woman from Hosur, DT Next reported. They had been hired through a private contractor.

The investigation

Krishnagiri Superintendent of Police G. S. Anitha visited the plant and made inquiries. District Collector Dinesh Kumar ordered officials to carry out a detailed investigation. The Rayakottai police have registered a case.

Investigators will look at the precautions taken before the workers went in, whether they had proper safety equipment, and the contractor’s role, according to the reports. Tata Electronics had not commented publicly on the deaths by the time of the reports.

What’s next

The post-mortem reports and the police findings on the cause of the deaths are awaited.