Five workers suffocate to death in Mandya refinery

Five workers died of asphyxiation while they were cleaning a reactor at Sampath Oil Refinery Private Limited in Tubinakere industrial area in Mandya on Thursday.

The deceased are Srirama, 25, Bablu, 26, Raju, 27, Gama, 37, and Chitu, 24, all from Bihar. They all got into the 20 foot-high reactor to clean it. However, the other workers panicked when all five of them did not come out, and called the police and the fire brigade.

When the brigade arrived, they found that the workers were unconscious in the reactor. The brigade personnel had to use gas cutters to open the reactor and extricate the bodies.

Owners of the refinery Kumar and Arun were not reachable as their mobile phones were switched off. Authorities have been instructed to find them. A case has been registered, District Superintendent of Police Bhushan Borase told Deccan Herald.