Five men from Bihar, aged between 22 and 30 years, died due to asphyxiation when they entered a waste oil storage tank in a private factory at Tubinakere Industrial Area on the outskirts of Mandya city on Thursday.
The deceased have been identified as Bablu (26), Gamma (23), Chitu (24), Raju (27) and Shriram (25). They had been working as daily wage employees at Sampath Refinery Private Limited, where the tragedy occurred.
The victims entered the tank one by one and fell unconscious after inhaling toxic gas, Mr. Manjunath, Fire Station Officer, Mandya, told The Hindu . Fire and Emergency Services personnel used gas cutters to cut open the tank and extricate the bodies. The bodies were later shifted to the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS).
The refinery unit, situated near Sir M. Visvesvaraya Post Graduate Centre of Mysore University, has been functioning since the last four years and is used to refine waste engine oil from different parts of the state. The refinery plant has four oil tanks, refining nearly one lakh litres of waste oil every month, an employee at the unit, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Hindu .
