A 22-year-old trainee engineer died after inhaling nitrogen gas at an industrial valve factory in Manapakkam on Friday morning.
K. Karuppusami, a native of Azhaganeri village in Tirunelveli district, had joined Audco India Limited (AIL) Valves in Manapakkam on Mount – Poonamallee Road three months ago, as a trainee junior engineer. He was living in a rented house in Porur with a few of his friends.
On Friday morning, he went to the ‘cryogenic testing area’ of the factory, where the valves are cooled under extremely low temperatures, with nitrogen gas blown on them, said Nandambakkam police. Karuppusami slipped and fell into the pit where the valves were placed, and died after inhaling nitrogen gas, police said.
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As Karuppusami had not returned for over an hour, two other employees of the company, Isubalan and Devaraj, went in search of him and saw him lying unconscious at the bottom of the pit. They tried to go down and help him but they too, fell down unconscious. A few other staff members who saw the two men getting into the pit also rushed there. The three men were pulled out after the flow of gas was turned off and were rushed to MIOT Hospitals in Manapakkam, where Isubalan and Devaraj are under treatment.
Karuppusami however, was pronounced dead on arrival. Police said his body had turned stiff as it was exposed to the extremely cold nitrogen gas for a long time.
Attempts to contact factory officials for a response to the incident were in vain. How the young man fell into the pit is being investigated.
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