30 workers sustained injuries after a gas leak occurred at the Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh on Thursday.
Six people including two Deputy General Managers are dead and 30 sustained injuries after a gas leak occurred at the Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh on Thursday late afternoon. Four plant workers are also among the dead.
At around 6:30 pm on Thursday, a leakage was reported from water pump number 2 at the plant after the pump house got inundated with water.
"Due to some mechanical reasons, this mishap led to suction of carbon monoxide into the work area. An inquiry is on to find out how carbon monoxide, an odourless gas that can be detected only when people become unconscious, got sucked in," Inspector General of Police (Durg Range) Pradeep Gupta said.
"The CISF was conducting a mock drill, and was able to swing into action...It is lucky that the poisonous gas did not spread," Mr Gupta added.
The injured included Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, workers and officials of the public sector plant. All the affected persons have been taken to Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Bhilai and the seriously ill have been admitted to ICU, said Inspector General of Police (Durg Range) Pradeep Gupta.
Twenty-four injured workers were hospitalised in the general ward, of which 21 have been released, and three are likely to be released by evening. The six admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are also out of danger and are likely to be shifted to the general ward during the day.
"Plant management is providing all the possible care and support and efforts are on for an early liquidation from the breakdown. High level enquiry shall be conducted to ascertain the cause of the breakdown and management will extend all the support to the affected persons," the company statement said.
Chief Minister Raman Singh expressed grief over the incident on Thursday. "My heart goes down for families of deceased @ BSP Bhilai. In touch with Union Ministers & local administration for relief & rescue operations (sic)," he tweeted.
On Friday he said that he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "PM Shri @narendramodi ji expressed deep grief for the deceased & discussed in detail relief & rescue operations being undertaken (sic)," he tweeted
Meanwhile, Congress MP Tamradhwaj Sahu claimed that the accident was avoidable and that maintenance had not been done for years. "The steel plant is maintained by contractual workers, not skilled persons," he said.