Two mill workers die in northwest Delhi after inhaling toxic gas

NEW DELHI: Two workers died after apparently inhaling toxic gas when they entered a tank of a flour mill in northwest Delhi, the police said on Wednesday.

The fire department was alerted about a gas leakage in Keshav Puram area around 9.20 pm on Tuesday and six fire tenders rushed to the spot. Two persons were found unconscious and the rescue operation lasted for almost five hours, officials said.

The duo were rushed to a hospital where they were declared dead. The deceased have been identified as Bebal Khan, 35, and Mobin Khan, 30, residents of Jaipur, the police said.

The two workers had entered a tank used in the mill to clean it. Doctors attributed the cause of death is asphyxiation, a senior police officer said.

Mill owner Paras and supervisor Anoop were arrested under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC, said DCP (Northwest) Vijayanta Arya.

The post-mortem of the bodies have been conducted and the police are trying to ascertain the nature of the gas, the officer added.

Earlier this month, two contractual workers died and three others were hospitalised after apparently inhaling toxic gas when they entered a septic tank at a house in Rohini’s Bhagya Vihar area. On Wednesday morning, firefighters had to break a large portion of the mill to reach the trapped men but could only recover their dead bodies. 

(With agency inputs)