5 labourers taken ill after inhaling poisonous gas

The labourers were not wearing masks or using any safety equipment leading to the accident, police said.

The affected persons were rushed to the government hospital at Danagadi for treatment and later one of them was shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after his condition worsened, the police said.

"They should not have climbed the blast furnace without taking adequate safety measures," P Banerjee, chief operating officer (Blast Furnace), said.

"The labourers of J S Engineering went to paint the blast furnace. As they climbed about 30-feet-high of the blast furnace, they felt?suffocated and became unconscious after inhaling poisonous gas leaked from the blast furnace," K C Mund, inspector-in-charge of Kalinga Nagar police station, said.

They were rescued by the plant workers and immediately rushed to the local hospital.?The incident took place at about 1 pm today.