7 paper mill workers fall ill after inhaling toxic gas

Raipur: Seven workers fell ill, three of them seriously, after inhaling poisonous gas at a paper mill in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district, police said on Thursday. The incident occurred at Shakti Paper Mill in Tetla village, where the victims were cleaning a recycling chamber on Wednesday evening, Raigarh superintendent of police Santosh Singh told PTI. However, the factory owner did not inform the administration about the incident, which came to light after the hospital authorities alerted the police on Thursday, he said. The mill, located around 250km from state capital Raipur, had remained shut ever since the lockdown was enforced and the cleaning work was underway to resume operations, the official said. Prima facie, it seems some toxic gas got generated in the recycling chamber (an open tank) from waste materials left in the chamber, he said. However, a team of forensic experts was dispatched to the spot to investigate the exact cause of the incident, Singh said. (PTI)