ROURKELA: Four contractual workers of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) on Wednesday morning died after being exposed to poisonous gas at the Coal Chemical Department (CCD) where they were engaged in the maintenance operation.
President of the BMS-affiliated Rourkela Ispat Karkhana Karmachari Sangh (RIKKS) HS Bal confirmed the deaths.
The four were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Ispat General Hospital (IGH).
RSP management sources informed that the workers were engaged by maintenance contractor firm Star Construction and added that at about 9 am all four were taken critically ill. They were evacuated, given first-aid inside the RSP and admitted to the RSP-run IGH for intensive care.
The injured four were identified as Ganesh Chandra Paila (59), Abhimanyu Sahu (33), Rabindra Sahu (59) and Brahmananda Panda (51).
Though there were reports that several other workers were also affected by the gas leak, sources in RSP claimed only four workers were present at the accident site.
They said the reason and circumstances of the gas leak are yet to be known.