Tension prevailed at Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) in East Midnapore after bodies of three contract labourers were found at the premises of the company.

While the company has termed the deaths as an accident caused by asphyxiation that occurred on Saturday night, both the CPM and Trinamool Congress claimed that a gas leak caused the deaths and alleged callousness on part of the HPL.

The deceased are Pintu Pradhan (35), Gopal Das (34) and Zakir Hussain (36). District Magistrate S D Chhoten Lama said the bodies were retrieved from a chamber and have been sent for postmortem. We have interrogated the HPL authorities over the deaths, he added.

A case of unnatural deaths has been registered with the Durgachak police station.

The HPL authorities said the unit had been shut down since May 8 for maintenance, and the deceased workers had gone into the process vessel of the unit as part of the maintenance activity around 11.30 pm on Saturday.

“The deceased were unskilled labourers and entered the Naptha Cracking unit of the plant without mandatory work permits,” HPL spokesperson Alok Chattopadhyay told The Indian Express. “Had they been issued work permits, it would have been made clear to them that certain sections are off-limits. Safety norms would have been made clear to them. The contractor violated the safety norms,” he added.

HPL authorities are conducting an internal investigation on how the three workers managed to enter the process vessel without work permits, which have to be obtained from security officials. Chattopadhyay said 4,500 workers are engaged in the maintenance operation.

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