Surat, Jun 7: Four workers died after inhaling toxic fumes while cleaning a septic tank at a jewellery manufacturing unit in Gujarat’s Surat city on Sunday morning, police said.
While asphyxiation is likely the primary cause of their death, the exact cause will be confirmed by the postmortem report, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone-1, Alok Kumar said.
The incident occurred at the septic tank, which collects waste from the jewellery cleaning process, in the Ashwini Kumar area, he said.
The facility’s septic tank undergoes cleaning and maintenance every two months. This morning, four individuals – a supervisor and three labourers – entered the tank. They collapsed due to the effects of poisonous gas and all of them died, the official said.
“We are examining whose negligence led to the incident, as preliminary investigations indicate that safety protocols were not followed. Nevertheless, we will conduct a detailed investigation into the matter,” he said.
The supervisor called the fire department before himself entering the tank, and preliminary findings indicate they lacked any safety equipment, the DCP said.
As soon as the incident was reported, the fire brigade rushed to the spot and carried out a rescue operation, took out all four victims from the tank and shifted them to a hospital where doctors declared them dead, as per officials.
“As of now, we are registering a case of accidental death. We will also analyse CCTV footage to determine what protocols should have been in place versus what was actually implemented, and subsequently fix responsibility,” the DCP said. (PTI)
