Lucknow, Jan 14 (PTI) Four contractual employees workingas electricians died of suspected asphyxiation in a hotelhere, an official said today.
Prima facie it seemed that they had died yesterdaybecause of inhaling carbon monoxide, as they had kept burningcoal in a glass cabin at the basement of the building inVihuti Khand area to fight intense cold, a police spokesmansaid.
The deceased were identified as Mohamed Saeed (29),Mohammed Nihal (30), Ram Kumar (30) and Ram Naresh (32) - allresidents of Lucknow.
The police said that the hotel's watchman Shailendra wentto the basement and found the victims sleeping. He called thema number of times and then opened the cabin door to wake themup.
The watchman grew suspicious when they did not respondand informed the hotel manager, who went to the basement andfound them lying unconscious.
The four people were rushed to RML Hospital where doctorsdeclared them brought dead.
District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said, "Rs 50,000in cash and a cheque of the same amount has been given to thefamily of the deceased."Sharma said the labour department has served a notice onthe hotel owner to give compensation to the families of thedeceased.
"An FIR has been registered against the hotel management.
Investigations will reveal whether the deaths were caused dueto smoke or if any criminal angle was involved," Sharma said.
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This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.