Four Hotel Workers Die After Inhaling Toxic Gas While Cleaning Underground Waste Tank in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain
A tragic incident has occurred at a hotel in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, where four workers died after allegedly inhaling toxic gas while cleaning an underground waste tank on the hotel premises.
According to Ujjain District Magistrate Roshan Kumar Singh, the accident took place late Saturday night at a hotel located on Dewas Road. The hotel had an underground waste tank where leftover food and other waste materials were disposed of.
On Saturday night, two hotel workers entered the underground tank to clean it. However, when they failed to return to the surface even after a considerable period, two other workers went inside to look for them. Unfortunately, they too were unable to come back out.
Ujjain Superintendent of Police Pradeep Sharma said that the passage leading into the underground tank was extremely slippery. Preliminary suspicion suggests that the workers may have slipped and consequently been unable to climb out. Police officials also suspect that toxic gases had accumulated inside the tank because it had not been cleaned for a long time.
According to reports, fire brigade personnel, with the assistance of local residents, later rescued all four workers from the underground tank that night. They were immediately taken to a hospital, where doctors declared all four dead.
Police said that the bodies had been sent for post-mortem examinations to determine the exact cause of death. Another police source revealed that employees of a private cleaning agency had also entered the tank along with the hotel workers. Efforts are currently underway to contact the management of the private agency.
Meanwhile, some residents of Ujjain have raised concerns over the lack of adequate safety measures for workers employed at hotels across the city. They alleged that the workers were sent into the underground tank without proper protective equipment. The workers reportedly entered the tank without wearing safety masks, causing them to lose consciousness shortly after being exposed to the toxic gases.
After the four workers were brought out of the tank, CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) was administered in an attempt to revive them. However, all efforts proved unsuccessful, and their lives could not be saved.
The tragic incident has once again brought the issue of workplace safety into focus, particularly the need for adequate protective measures when workers are required to clean underground waste tanks and other confined spaces.
