Five migrant labourers from Deganga in North 24-Parganas have died after inhaling toxic gas when they accidentally fell into a waste tank at a fish- processing plant near Mangalore in Karnataka.
Two labourers died of asphyxiation instantly after drowned in the 20ft deep waste tank at Sri Ulka LLP, a fish processing unit in the Mangalore Special Economic Zone, on Sunday evening. Seven others were rescued and rushed to a hospital where three of them breathed their last on Monday morning.

Mangalore police commissioner N. Shashi Kumar said on Monday that the accident occurred when one labourer fell into the tank and others rushed in to rescue him, but met the same fate.
Local Bajpe police registered a case following the incident.

The deceased labourers, all in their early 20s, were Mohammed Samiulla Islam, Omar Farooq, Nizamuddin Ali, Mirazul Islam and Sharafath Ali. The police said three others — Hasan Ali, Mohammed Karibulla, Altaf Malik and Hafeez Ullah, who also fell into the waste tank filled with toxic substances — were critically ill and undergoing treatment at the A.J. Hospital and Research Centre in Mangalore.

North 24-Parganas district magistrate Sumit Gupta told The Telegraph: “We are in touch with the South Kannada district authorities to bring the bodies of the victims home as early as possible. We are hopeful that the bodies would reach by tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon and officials of the labour department are taking all necessary steps in this
regard.”

A team of villagers left for Mangalore early on Monday morning by flight. The villagers, who did not sleep last night ever since the sad news reached them, raised funds to buy air tickets for some educated youths so that they could bring back the bodies after completing all formalities with the support of the administration.

In the absence of economically sustainable work to run their families during the post-Covid-19 situation, a team of 35 labourers from Deganga and adjacent areas like Nurnagar, Fazilpur, Amulia and Roypur went to work at the plant in November last year.

The Karnataka police have begun a case against the owner of the plant, Raju Gorak, who is from Mumbai. They arrested four officials of the company, including production manager Ruby Joseph, area manager Kuber Gade, and supervisors Mohammed Anwar and Farukh.

“We have registered a case under Section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against the manager and supervisor. Production manager, area manager and supervisors have been taken into custody and are being interrogated,” Kumar said.

The police and other labourers said the incident had occurred about 6pm on Sunday when workers were draining out waste at the Shree Ulka LLP, which exports processed fish to Russia and China.

“One of our colleagues first fell into the tank filled with decomposed fish waste mixed with water. Eight of us were working at the plant during the time. All rushed to rescue him but in their endeavour, they fell into the steep tank and got choked by the excessive toxic gas,” a labourer said over the phone from Mangalore.

“The waste water tank at the plant is in a horrible state. There was no basic security and protection from health-related hazards for labourers. Most of the 100 workers at the plant hailed from Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. The wastewater is not drained out regularly and that makes it more toxic,” he added.

C.F. Ali, father of deceased labourer Omar Farooq, said: “My son used to work as a construction labourer. As there was a lack of work in the area, he decided to go to Karnataka for a better living. Now, we have lost him.”