Techie faints while checking leak in tank; 2 techies rush to help; all 3 die

News Network
July 12, 2018

Bengaluru, Jul 12: In a heartrending incident, three young technical engineers lost their lives due to asphyxiation when they were checking a leak in a water tank at a chemical factory in Harohalli industrial area on Kanakapura Road.

The police gave the names of the victims as Lokesh Krishnappa (31), a native of Kolar; Mahesh Shivamallegowda (28), a resident of Gottahalli in Harohalli; and Saravana Manohar (24), who hailed from Tamil Nadu. Their colleague Arivalagan was admitted to a hospital where his condition is said to be critical.

The tragedy took place at the Unit-2 of Anthem BioSciences Private Limited, a manufacturer of medical products located near Bannikuppe village in Kanakapura taluk in Ramnagaram district around 10.30 pm on Tuesday.

The large stainless steel water tank was circular in shape and had a diameter of 3 metres, police said.

Lokesh, who works as an engineer, entered the tank using a ladder to check for the leak and collapsed inside the tank. On seeing him unconscious, Mahesh and Saravana entered the tank and passed out. Arivalagan also fainted while half-way into the tank, but was rescued by workers who rushed him to the hospital.

Following information from a company staffer, police got to the spot and began inquiries. They suspect the deaths had happened due to asphyxiation as there was no oxygen inside the tank.

Workers entered the tank wearing masks and retrieved the bodies, the police said. The bodies were shifted to the Victoria Hospital for post-mortem on Wednesday.

The victims who fell unconscious had bitten their tongue. In all, 20 workers were on the nightshift.

News of the deaths triggered panic among workers, including a few relatives of the victims who blamed the deaths on toxic fumes from a chemical reactor. But the management rubbished the allegations, insisting that lack of oxygen in the tank had caused the deaths.

The Harohalli police accused the management of the company for failing to follow safety procedures to protect their employees. They registered an FIR against unknown persons of the company management under IPC section 304-A – accidental death caused by negligence. Further investigations are underway.

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Javed Hashir
 - 
Thursday, 12 Jul 2018

Work permit system for confined space entry and employees adherence to the system could have prevented this accident. 

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coastaldigest.com news network
January 23,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 23: Expressing shock over the blast which left him and his supporters injured yesterday, Shantinagar MLA NA Haris today said that the incident cannot be brushed aside as a firecracker blast and appealed to the state government to inquire into the incident.

Recovering from the injuries sustained on his leg, Haris was discharged from St Philomena's Hospital on Thursday afternoon. 

Interacting with mediapersons outside his residence in Shantinagar, Haris said, “It wasn’t a cracker but a ball-like object that was hurled at me. Since my childhood, I have been seeing crackers and the object that was thrown at me was certainly not a cracker. It had splinters and hard objects.”

He said, “I have been representing the constituency for over 12-years and had no rivalry with anyone. Barring political ideology during elections, all the leaders in our constituency have been cooperative with each other. Yet, we do not know what the intention was or who was behind the incident.”

Revealing that home minister Basavaraj Bommai had called him to enquire about his condition at the hospital Haris said, “I have also briefed the home minister and explained to him what exactly happened. I have full faith in the police and will cooperate with the police during the investigation.” Haris said that doctors have advised him three to four-days of rest.

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: "What corona? My children are hungry, they have walked from Gurugram with me do you think corona is what I fear?," Yogesh Gangwar who is salesman in a cloth showroom said as he wiped his tears.

Many others regret for not leaving the city early on.

"God knows when we will reach our hometown. My family was telling me to leave work early in March and get back, but I avoided suggestions and now I am stranded here," Babu Ram who hails from Rampur and works at a plastic recycling factory here in Mundka told media.

Migrant labourers were forced to walk as the public transport were closed and borders were sealed due to the lockdown.

"There is no food to eat, I cannot pay rent of room without my daily wages so I decided to walk with my family from Narela to here. I just hope I get a bus soon," Revati, who works as construction labour said as she fed her three-year-old with pieces of bread that one of the policemen at Anand Vihar gave her.

However, when Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh decided to deploy around 1,000 buses to help these workers reach their respective hometowns, thousands of them reached Anand Vihar ISBT with a hope to catch one of these buses.

The Delhi government also announced that 100 buses have been deployed to help those trying to reach to their homes in other states on foot.

In order to avoid the spread of the virus, the police asked the people to stand in three queues and also asked the people to de-board the overcrowded buses.

Earlier, budget passenger carrier SpiceJet had offered its aircraft to operate few flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Patna to take migrant labourers, particularly from Bihar, who have got stuck in various parts of the country due to COVID-19 related lockdown.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
February 1,2020

Shivamogga, Feb 1: A three-year-old girl who fell out of a moving vehicle had a miraculous escape in Agumbe Ghat section in Teerthahalli taluk of Shivamogga district of Karnataka.

The incident took place in the early hours of Friday when 12 members from three different families were returning from a tour of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The girl was reunited with her family after 30 minutes of high drama.

The child, identified as Anavi, is believed to have fallen from the vehicle as it negotiated hairpin bends on the Agumbe Ghat road, 350km from Bengaluru. The child's parents, Binu and Lincy, from NR Pura in Chikkamagaluru district, and other family members reportedly dozed off and did not realize the child had fallen off the vehicle until they covered a distance of about 20km.

One of the family members noticed that child was missing from the seat next to the door. When the driver realized the door latch had given way, they suspected the child could have slipped out of the vehicle.

Then the family started searching along the road and learnt from a forest guard at the Agumbe checkpost that a missing child was found and it had been handed over to Agumbe police station.

An advocate who identified himself as Vinay spotted the girl child as he passed the deserted stretch minutes after the vehicle left and picked her up and handed her over to Agumbe police.

The child sustained minor injuries in the fall. She was provided medical treatment before she was handed over to the parents.

Sources said it wasn't known how the vehicle door opened. One theory is that the girl could have accidentally unlocked the door while clutching the latch in the bumpy ride on the ghat. Police did not file any complaint.

Similar incident

This incident is almost a rerun of a Kerala incident in which a one-year-old baby fell off a moving jeep and was reunited with its mother hours later in September 2019 in Idukki district.

The baby had slipped off the mother's arms while she dozed off in the vehicle. CCTV footage showed the baby, after falling on the road, crawling towards a lit-up area close by, which turned out to be a forest checkpost. Family realised child was missing after 20km.

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