THREE SLIP INTO FACTORY TANK, DIE
Magisterial inquiry ordered into the matter, NDRF team called to help in the rescue operation
GHAZIABAD: Three persons including a father and his sonowner of the pickle factory died of suffocation after they slipped into an underground tank of the factory located in Tronic City area of Ghaziabad on Sunday morning.
According to police, the factory was being operated illegally at a residential area in Daulat Nagar and the tank in which all the three men died was full of preservative chemicals used for pickle making. They used to process vegetables in chemicals that were used to make pickles.
Police said that the deceased were identified as Love Kush (60), his son Praveen Kumar (35), natives of Delhi while the third man was identified as Ram Dubey (45).
A senior police officer said that the incident took place at around 9 am when the man and his son came to factory and somehow got slipped into the tank. As they failed to come out and didn't respond, his wife
shouted for help. A labourer at the factory came and tried to rescue them, but he also fell and drowned.
The locals and other workers alerted police when the three stopped responding after several calls were made to them. The trio died after suffocating due to the presence of poisonous gases and toxic fumes coming out of the chemicals present in the tank, said police officials.
“As the information was conveyed, a police team was rushed to the spot. A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was also called to help in the rescue operation. It took us around two to three hours to get the bodies out of the tank because of the presence of poisonous fumes. Somehow we managed to recover the bodies after breaking the wall at the back side of the tank,” said Durgesh Kumar Singh, Circle Officer, Loni, Ghaziabad.
Police said that the rescued persons were rushed to district hospital where doctors declared them dead after examination. The bodies were sent for the postmortem.
Senior officers of Ghaziabad district administration also visited the spot to take cognisance of the situation.
“Three persons have died in the fatal incident on Sunday morning. Upon investigations, it came to light that the factory was running illegally in the area. The District Magistrate of Ghaziabad has ordered magisterial inquiry into the matter. Actions will be taken against those who will be found at fault,” said sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM), Ghaziabad.
Similar incidents are reported very frequent from various states of the country. Poor working conditions and improper protection and tools are the main reasons for such fatal incidents. The lack of safety equipment and proper procedures are seldom followed, which puts the lives of thousands of workers at risk.