Four persons, including three engineers of the Pune-based Thermax Ltd, died on Friday night after they were exposed to toxic fumes emanating from a sewage treatment tank, located on the premises of the Hyundai car plant in Irungattukottai near Sriperumbudur, about 35 km from Chennai.
Thermax Ltd. had been granted the contract by Hyundai to take care of the mechanical part and the commissioning of the new effluent treatment tank, the second to come up in the car plant. According to a Hyundai spokesperson, all the four died after they inhaled toxic gases, probably methane, hydrogen sulphide and perhaps carbon dioxide, while checking a faulty pump in the tank.
“The site engineer in charge of the plant, Anandan Maran, went down a few steps inside a 20-feet deep chamber in the tank to check a pump. He was knocked down unconscious by toxic gases and fell into the chamber which had sewage water (comprising human and industrial waste of the car plant). Three others, including two Thermax employees and a contract labourer, who tried to rescue him, also succumbed to the fumes. One employee managed to jump out and run outside,” said Hyundai Vice-President (Administration & HR), S Ganapathy.
He said the most hazardous wastes were normally segregated. But other industrial wastes were allowed to flow into the treatment tank. “The staff should have worn protective masks,” he added.
A case has been registered by the Sriperumbudur police under Section 174 of the CrPC, said DSP, P Balasubramanian. It took the fire department about two hours to fish out the bodies of Maran (32) and Muthu (37), the contract labourer. The remaining two bodies of Mohun Inharney (25), Thermax’s electrical engineer, and Shirish Karate (22), chemical and commissioning engineer, were brought out early this morning.
S V Sohoni, Vice President (HR and Administration), Thermax Ltd., said workers had to follow certain standard operating procedures while working in such conditions. “Maran was a very experienced staff and knew all the mandatory procedures. Safety norms are clearly identified and employees have been provided training as to what should be done under hazardous conditions.”