Chg: 1 labourer dies, 2 critical after inhaling poisonous gas

A labourer died and three others took ill apparently after inhaling a poisonous gas while cleaning a processing chamber at a paper mill in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, the police said today.

The condition of two of the four labourers is critical, a police official said.

"The incident occurred last evening in Dhanlaxmi Paper Mill at Jhika village when the maintenance work was underway," said Station House Officer, Dongargaon police station, Ashirwad Rahatgaonkar.

As per preliminary information, four labourers passed out after entering the processing chamber, he said.

The workers nearby the chamber brought the four labourers out, he said, adding that they were rushed to a local hospital by the mill management.

One of them, identified as Kamlesh Sen (25) was declared dead on arrival by doctors at the hospital, he said.

The deceased hailed from Uttar Pradesh.

Bhootnath Mahto and Vinod Gautam were shifted to Raipur in view of their critical condition, the SHO said, adding that another labourer Chandresh Nishad is undergoing treatment at Rajnandgaon district hospital.

Preliminary investigation suggested that the labourers had inhaled some poisonous gas inside the chamber containing waste paper material, the officer said.

However, the exact of the death is not known yet, he said.

A case has been registered and further investigation is on.