Kakinada: Seven workers of an edible oil packaging factory in a village in Kakinada district were asphyxiated on Thursday when they got into an oil tank to clean it, police and district officials said.
The incident occurred at G Ragampet near here at around 8:30 AM when one of the labourers entered the tank to clean it.
He accidentally slipped and fell into it. In order to save him, seven other people entered the tank. Seven of them were asphyxiated while one of them survived.
Five of the deceased workers were from Paderu and two were from Peddapuram, police said.
The factory has been sealed and a case registered against it under IPC section 304A (death due to negligence), Kakinada District Collector Krithika Shukla told media.
She said a four-member committee headed by Joint Collector has been constituted to conduct an inquiry into the mishap and submit a report within three days.
The panel is currently going through the documents and the approval the factory had for running the oil packaging facility. Strict action will be initiated against those responsible for the lapses, officials said.
An ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh has been announced by the state government for the kin of victims while the factory also has been ordered to provide compensation, an official release said.
Post-mortem was underway and it will ascertain the cause of deaths, officials said.
An eyewitness told media that one person first entered the tank and the other followed as he did not come up.
Family members of the victims alleged that the factory management did not provide proper security gear to the workers.
Following the incident, a group of people held a protest demanding Rs 1 crore compensation be given to families of each of the deceased.
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