Three die after inhaling poisonous gas in pickle factory tank: Police

The owner of an illegal pickle manufacturing plant and two others died Sunday after inhaling poisonous gas on entering a tank at the factory in a residential area here, police said.

The incident occurred in the Daulat Nagar area at around 8:30 am.

Police said Luv Kush Prasad Jayaswal (62) had been running a pickle manufacturing unit for three years. The factory was closed in the monsoon season.

The plant has a 10-feet-deep tank for pickling. Jayaswal opened the plant Sunday morning to remove fermented water from the tank.

Jayaswal entered the tank with the help of a ladder and fell unconscious after inhaling poisonous gas, police said.

When he did not come out, his 35-year-old son got down in the tank to save him. He too passed out. Jayaswal's wife raised an alarm on noticing her husband and son lying unconscious.

A neighbour, Hirdayraj Dubey, who rushed to their rescue also collapsed on entering the tank. Some neighbours informed police who reached there and a fire brigade also reached the spot.

Police and fire department personnel broke open a big hole in the backside wall to release the poisonous gas. After two hours, all three bodies were brought out.

An NDRF team was also called in. NDRF Inspector Karam Singh told reporters that the trio died after inhaling accumulated hydrogen sulphide and carbon monoxide in the tank.

An FIR has been registered and the incident is being probed. The factory has been sealed, Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said.