The mortal remains of five young women who tragically lost their lives in an ammonia gas leak at a Tamil Nadu seafood processing plant arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, amid a deeply emotional atmosphere.
The bodies of two more labourers from Odisha, who passed away earlier on Tuesday, are scheduled to be repatriated to the state at a later date.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi attended the airport arrival to pay solemn floral tributes to the deceased workers, who belonged to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) communities of Keonjhar district.
Majhi, a native of Keonjhar district himself, met directly with the grieving family members, extended his personal condolences, and firmly assured them that the state government stands in absolute solidarity with them during this crisis.
Earlier, Chief Minister Majhi announced that the state government has decided to increase the ex-gratia compensation for the families of the deceased Odisha workers to Rs 10 lakh, a sharp increase from the Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia declared on Monday.
Till date, the tragedy, which occurred on June 21, has claimed the lives of seven people from the state, all of whom were young women between the ages of 15 and 20 from the PVTG Juang community.
While five of the women died on the day of the incident, two more succumbed to their injuries on Tuesday, with officials confirming that the bodies of the final two victims have yet to reach Odisha, officials said.
In a statement, the CM said that Majhi expressed deep sorrow over the tragedy and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.
Odisha’s Labour Commissioner, Indramani Tripathy, said that the state’s death toll in the Tamil Nadu industrial disaster rose to seven after two additional women from Keonjhar passed away early Tuesday morning.
More than 20 other workers from Odisha are currently receiving medical care across various hospitals in Tamil Nadu.
Chief Secretary Anu Garg said, “The Odisha government has sent a team of officials, including a special secretary of the Labour department. I am in touch with the chief secretary of Tamil Nadu. All possible arrangements are being made for the treatment and bringing back the bodies.”
Meanwhile, a report from Keonjhar stated that a heavy pall of gloom descended over four local villages as news of the seven fatalities spread.
The Keonjhar District Labour Officer and a team of other officials are currently stationed at the villages to coordinate the funerals for the first five bodies expected to arrive late at night.
The toxic industrial chemical leak took place occurred at a private seafood processing and export facility in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur district during routine industrial operations on June 21.
Of the nine people who died so far, seven were from Odisha and two from Assam.
