Deceased flour mill workers worked overtime; were to go home for Eid

The two workers of a flour mill who died after inhaling toxic gas in northwest Delhi's Keshavpuram area had stayed back after their shift to help clean a tank despite the owner insisting that they leave for a party they were supposed to attend.

Bebal Khan, 35, and Mobin Khan, 30, were to visit their families in Jaipur for Eid, their relatives said, alleging their lives could have been saved if the rescue operation had started early.

The rescue team took around five hours to evacuate them from the tank at the Hathi Brand Atta's mill that makes flour, porridge, maida and pulses.

"Their owner asked them to leave the mill early and go for party but the two insisted on working after their shift," Imamuddin (54), Bebal's elder brother, said.

Bebal was the youngest among his five brothers and was working here from the past five years. He had a very good relations with Mobin, according to Imamuddin.

Imamuddin said his family did not know about the tragedy as the relatives have told them that he met with an accident.

Mobin had joined the mill around one-and-a-half year ago. He was the one who entered the tank first, which was closed from past two years and was around 13 feet deep, to clean it. When he came down, he started coughing and could not breathe and cried for help. Later, his colleagues informed Bebal, who was his senior, Imamuddin said.

When Bebal got to know about the incident, he came there and entered the tank to save Mobin but they both fell unconscious, Habib Khan (49), another elder brother of Bebal, said.

The relatives of the deceased were informed about the tragedy on Tuesday night.

"We were informed about the incident at around 10 pm following which we reached Delhi at around 5 am to see them," Habib, who flew to the national capital from Pune, said.

One another tank was cleaned by them on Monday. The tank was also closed for some time and they had cleaned it successfully without getting hurt, Imamuddin claimed.

Their working hour start from 8 am till 5 pm.

"Some times, they worked overtime as they used to stay in the mill area. Their working hours started from 8 am till 5 pm and the incident took place at around 9 pm when they were doing overtime," Habib said.

Bebal worked as a miller and almost 20 workers were under him. All his elder brothers also work as miller in Kolkata, Pune and Punjab. He was trained under his brother Habib in Pune for five years and had later joined this mill here around fiver years ago, Imamuddin said.

Habib said no security equipment was provided to both of them and it took almost two hours to get the first body out of the tank and another two hours to take out the second.

If the rescue operation would have been started earlier, the lives could have been saved, he said.

The family members have not been informed yet about the demise of Bebal as the relatives told them that the deceased got some fractures and is undergoing treatment.

"We would inform them once we reach Jaipur with his body," Imamuddin said.

Bebal and Mobin were distant relatives. Bebal is survived by wife and three children while Mobin survived by his wife and two daughters, one is three-year-old and another is two-months-old.

Bebal got married around 15 years ago. He lives in Tala Village in the Jaipur district while Mobin used to stay in a village which is about 27 kilometres away from Tala, Kamruddin (29), the brother-in-law of Bebal, said.

His wife, who lives at his native village Tala ganv in Achrol near Jaipur, is still unaware about his demise as the relatives have only told her that he met with an accident," Imamuddin said.

There were around 50 workers working in the mill.

Last time, Bebal had visited his village two months back.