Gandhinagar, Nov 6 (IANS): In a tragic incident, five labourers died after entering the tank of an effluent treatment plant (ETP) at the Tutson pharma company in Khatraj in Gandhinagar on Saturday afternoon. As per the authorities, it seems that all of them died due to electrocution.

"Prima-facie it seems that all the five labourers who entered the tank died of electrocution. The exact reason will be known only after we receive the post-mortem reports," Kuldeep Arya, Collector, Gandhinagar, told IANS.

"From the information we have received so far, the company had drained out the chemical inside the ETP tank and the little bit remaining was being extracted through a pump. It was during this process that the tragedy occurred. The district officials from the Directorate of Industrial Safety & Health (DISH) have sent me the initial inquiry report and we will investigate the matter and take the necessary actions. All the five labourers had entered the ETP tank without any safety gear, so that amounts to violation of rules. We are also consulting forensic experts," added Arya.

According to some sources, one of the five labourers died of asphyxiation after entering the ETP tank for cleaning purposes as there was chemical mixed water in it. The other four labourers entered the tank to rescue him.

The deceased labourers have been identified as Vinay Kumar, Ram Prakash Gupta, Devendra Kumar, Anish Kumar and Rajan Kumar.