Five labourers killed after poisonous gas leaks at food product factory in MP

Morena: Five labourers died due to alleged poisonous gas leak in a food product factory located in Danela village in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, a police official said on Wednesday.

“There is a food product factory in Danela village where they (labourers) used to regularly clean the tank. The factory makes cherries from fruit peels. One man had gone into the tank to clean it and he fell into it. To save him others went down the tank and they fell into it too. Probably there was a toxic gas and it can only be confirmed after post-mortem. Due to this, five persons have died,” Morena ASP Arvind Singh Thakur told ANI.

A legal action will be taken in this matter. Prima facie, if there is a fault of the factory's owner then a case will be registered against him, he added.

Meanwhile, Morena Collector Ankit Asthana told ANI, “We received information in the morning that a labour of a factory who was cleaning a tank of vegetable dump there had probably drowned in it. In order to save him, four other workers of the factory had also landed in the same tank and drowned. After the information we sent the SDM and SDOP to the spot and they sent the bodies for post-mortem.”

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also expressed grief over the incident.

He wrote on X (formerly twitter), “My heart is pained by the accident due to leakage of poisonous gas in Dhanela village in Morena. In this difficult situation of grief, my condolences are with the bereaved family. I pray to God that the departed souls may rest in peace and provide strength to the family members to bear this pain.”