Toxic gas kills 3 at Hazaribagh tannery

FE Report

Three workers died from inhalation of toxic gas triggered by chemical reaction in a tannery at Hazaribagh in the capital Friday, police said.

Nine other workers fell sick after inhaling the gas at Apex Tannery in the area where hundreds of such plants are located.

Witnesses said the incident took place at about 6:45am when workers of the tannery were mixing chromium sulphate with lime in a drum to process animal hides.

"Poisonous gas produced by chemical reaction caused the deaths," Officer-in-Charge of Hazaribagh police station Enamul Haq Enam said, quoting an expert.

The workers died in the accident were Dulal Miah (40), Shah Alam (60) and Mohammad Sulaiman (40).

The workers who fell sick were admitted to various city hospitals and clinics for treatment.

Experts said the chemicals and dyes used in the tanneries are extremely hazardous to human body. And all the procedures are done with bare hands causing skin diseases, allergy, chest pain and other complications, they said.