BHUBANESWAR: Three workers allegedly died of suffocation inside a chowmein manufacturing unit at Mohana in Gajapati district.
Other workers at the unit had informed the police when the trio did not open the door in the morning. Mohana police and Odisha Fire Service personnel rushed to the spot at about 8 am and broke open the unit's door. They found the three workers to be unconscious and rushed them to a hospital in Mohana where the doctors declared them brought dead.
Gajapati SP Jayaram Satapathy visited the spot to investigate.
"The regulator of one of the LPG cylinders was found to be open and the room was filled with gas. Initial investigation suggests the three workers died from asphyxiation," said an officer of Mohana police station.
The unit has four to five rooms and the incident may have taken place after 1 am. However, more details will emerge after the postmortem reports arrive.
A case of unnatural death has been registered and further investigation is continuing, he added.
The deceased have been identified as Prabahakar Dalei and Sunil Dalei of Gajapati district and Arun Sahoo of Ganjam district.