Hosur, November 10: Three contract workers died on Monday after inhaling gas during maintenance work on an effluent treatment plant at the Tata Electronics factory in Hosur, in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri district, a district official said. The plant makes parts for Apple iPhones.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

District Collector C. Dinesh Kumar told businessline that Tata Electronics had engaged four workers from NALCO, a water treatment company, to clean the effluent treatment plant, and three of them died in the process of clearing the sludge. "It is not clear why the persons entered the tank to clean the sludge since this can be done externally via a trapdoor. We understand one person fell into the tank and the others tried to save him, but died," he said. The Collector said the sequence was pieced together from the account of the fourth, surviving worker.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

Reuters reported that the effluent treatment plant was operated by Nalco Water, an Ecolab company, and that the deaths occurred when the workers inhaled gas while inspecting an external nano-filtration tank. There was no impact on production, as the facility was closed for the Deepavali festival this week, sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.

Pollution board visit and minister's response

Authorities from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) are set to visit the Tata Electronics premises on Tuesday to investigate the deaths, and the District Collector said he would receive a report from the board after its investigation. Tamil Nadu authorities are probing the incident, and Tata and Apple will also investigate the deaths, Reuters reported.

The Tamil Nadu Industries Minister said in a post on X that the district administration has been directed to extend all necessary support to the affected families. "The safety and dignity of every worker must remain paramount. This tragic incident will be thoroughly investigated, and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings," the minister said.

Tata Electronics had not released a statement on the incident at the time of reporting and did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. Reuters noted that the Hosur site had faced earlier setbacks, including a fire that halted production at the components plant in 2024.