Four killed in methane leak at Hyundai plant

Four workers died of asphyxiation after inhaling methane during construction work on a sewage tank at the Hyundai car factory at Irrungatukottai near Chennai on Friday evening. Three of the deceased were engineers working with Thermax Ltd, a contract labour company on Hyundai's rollcall, while the fourth was a civil contractor employee.

A fifth person who inhaled the gas was rescued in time and admitted to Sri Ramachandra Hospital in Chennai, where he was reported to be out of danger. The incident occurred at 8.30 pm on Friday evening while the Thermax employees were cleaning a sewage tank, part of the waste water treatment plant under construction at the Hyundai factory.

"One of the pumps leading to the sewage tanks was malfunctioning and the Thermax engineer was inspecting it when the methane leak happened. He inhaled the gas and those who went to his aid also became victims," Hyundai Motors India vice-president (Administration and HR) S Ganapathy said.