KRISHNAGIRI: Three contract workers died of suspected asphyxiation while carrying out maintenance and cleaning work inside a nano-filtration feed tank at a Tata Electronics plant near Uddanapalli in Krishnagiri district on Monday (November 09) evening. The facility near Hosur manufactures components for Apple iPhones.
The workers were part of a team engaged in cleaning the effluent treatment plant (ETP) at the facility in Vanniyapuram. Krishnagiri Collector C Dinesh Kumar said there were no proper safety measures in place while handling the ETP. "The district administration is inquiring into the incident," he said.
According to the collector, Akmal first attempted to look inside the tank but fainted after inhaling gas. Kaveri then allegedly asked Sarathikumar to check on him. Sarathikumar also collapsed inside the tank. Kaveri subsequently entered the tank to check on the two and fell unconscious. A fourth member of the team, who witnessed the incident, raised the alarm. All three workers were rescued and taken to a private hospital in Hosur, where they were declared brought dead.
The deceased were identified as B Akmal (28) of Thinnur village in Panchapalli, P Kaveri (32) of Hanumanthapuram and M Sarathikumar (25) of Belrampatti near Palacode. All three were from Dharmapuri district.
The collector said the workers were employed by another company engaged by Nalco for maintenance work on the water filtration tank.
The bodies were sent to the Government Krishnagiri Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examinations. Police said preliminary inquiries suggested that the deaths could have been caused by inhalation of toxic gas. However, the exact cause of death would be established after the post-mortem reports. Officials from the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health also visited the site.
In September 2024, a fire broke out at a chemical plant inside Tata Electronics' facility at Ullukurukkai village near Rayakottai. Eleven people suffered suffocation and other health complications after inhaling fumes and were taken to a private hospital in Hosur. No casualties were reported in that incident. (with inputs from media organisations)