Maharashtra: Three die after inhaling toxic gas at chemical factory in Tarapur

MUMBAI: Three employees, including a supervisor, died after allegedly inhaling toxic gas that leaked in a chemical unit at Tarapur MIDC in Boisar on Sunday.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the workers were not equipped with any safety gears, including masks. Such was the smell of the gas, when the patients were bought in to the hospital doctors attending to them felt nauseous and needed medical attention.
The work of filing the gas was underway at Esquire Chemicals, located on plot N-60 at around 4 pm.
The workers in the second shift were engaged in a chemical process involving toxic gases. The supervisor Prabhakar Khadse (57) and workers Raghunath Gorai (50), Dattatray Ghule (24) allegedly inhaled the toxic gas and felt nauseous.
They were taken to the Thunga hospital in Boisar where they were declared dead on admission, said Boisar MIDC inspector Janardhan Patankar.
The smell of the gas is believed to have spread through the hospital premises when the victims were brought in.
Doctors attending the victims too felt nauseous and had to be given medical help. The victims were declared dead and their bodies were immediately taken for autopsy.
The Boisar MIDC fire brigade personnel reached the spot. Other workers of the factory managed to run out of the premises. They too were put under observation to ensure that they had not breathed in the toxic gas.
Firemen cordoned off the area and were carrying out the task of containing the gas leakage. Factories in the vicinity were also evacuated.
Police said that the nature of gas has not been established. The autopsies will reveal the exact cause of deaths.
A case of accidental death has been registered. Officials of the Director of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH), Vasai, visited the spot to carry out inspection. The statement of the workers and factory owners will be taken. Based on the DISH report negligence cases will be filed, said the police.