MANGALURU: Five labourers of a fish processing industry located in Mangaluru Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) at Permude here drowned in a wastewater tank inside the factory on Sunday night.
The deceased are Mohammed Samirulla, Umar Farooq, Nizamuddin Alis, Mirajul Islam and Sarafath Ali. Three others - Hasan Ali, Karibulla and Aftal Malik are admitted to the hospital. The deceased are in the age group of 18-22 years and hail from West Bengal.
The incident took place in Sri Ulka LLB, where exports are processed to Russia and China. Bajpe police has filed a Case under IPC section 304, 304 r/w 34, 337, 338 and arrested company's production manager Ruby Joseph, area manager Kubher Gade, supervisor Mohammed Anwar and labour safety supervisor Farooq have been arrested.
Mangaluru city police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said labourer Nizamuddin fell into the 20feet deep waste water tank in the factory at around 6 pm on Sunday. The other labourers went to rescue him. The police got the information at 8 pm.
Police said the factory owned by a Mumbai based Raju Gorak was found to be flouting various safety norms. The wastewater in the tank was not cleared daily. Though sources said that the death was due to drowning, police commissioner said the cause of death is still not clear. Around 100 labourers are employed in the factory, majority of them from West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.
The injured persons are being treated at the ICU at A J hospital.