ANANTAPUR: Six persons were killed and four took ill after inhaling carbon monoxide (CO) gas that leaked in the tunnel of a steel plant run by Gerdau, a US maker of steels, in Tadipathri Rural mandal in the district on Thursday evening.
Gerdau is said to be one of the largest makers of special steels in the world, and the Tadipathri unit, located about 10 km from the town, has a capacity of three lakh tonnes per year.
The leak of CO, a colourless, odourless gas, was first noticed when four workers feel unconscious. Two workers who rushed to the tunnel to rescue their colleagues also died in the spot.
The gas was being used for reheating after repair work at the plant. The workers were cleaning the tunnel when the gas leak occurred. Four more workers were affected and shifted to hospitals at Tadipathri and Anantapur. The bodies were shifted to the Tadipathri government hospital for postmortem.
There tension at the plant when the family members of the victims staged a protest against the poor safety measures at the plant that resulted in the accident.
The management in a statement claimed that its safety standards were of international standards. It said the company had immediately provided medical assistance.
The company did not permit the media to enter the factory. Gerdau stated that it was assisting the families of the victims and was working to determine the cause of the accident.
The company is also extending cooperation to local authorities, it said. Operations at the unit were suspended and would resume after an extensive safety inspection.
Tadipathri MLA J.C. Prabhakar Reddy, who was in Hyderabad, stressed the need to take all necessary measures to compensate families of the victims.
YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed shock over the incident and demanded compensation for the families of victims.
The victims were identified as B. Ranganath, 21, of Bodyapalli in Tadipathri mandal; K. Manoj Kumar, 24, and S.A. Vaseem Bhasha, 35, of Tadipathri; U. Gangadhar, 37, of T. Molakurupalli in Kadiri mandal in Anantapur district; K. Siva Maddileti, 26, of Mangapatnmam in Kadapa district and Guruvaiah, 40, of Rallapalli of Veligallu mandal in Prakasam district.
