Three contract workers died on Monday, 9 November, while cleaning an effluent treatment plant tank at a Tata Electronics facility in Hosur, in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri district. The plant makes components for Apple iPhones. Police say the preliminary cause was asphyxiation from toxic gas released during maintenance work.
The treatment plant is run by Nalco Water, a subsidiary of the US firm Ecolab. Police and officials describe the sequence this way. A worker named Akmal opened the lid of a nano-filtration feed tank to clear sludge, collapsed and fell inside. A colleague, Sarathikumar, went in to check on him and lost consciousness. A third worker, Kaveri, entered to try to rescue them and also collapsed. A fourth worker raised the alarm, and colleagues and the plant's safety team pulled the three out and gave first aid. All three were declared dead at a private hospital in Hosur.
The dead were B Akmal, 28, from Thinnur village, P Kaveri, 30, from Hanumanthapuram, and M Sarathikumar, 25, from near Palacode. All were from Dharmapuri district and were among four contract workers hired through a contractor for routine maintenance. The bodies were sent to the government medical college hospital in Krishnagiri for post-mortem examination.
Questions over safety
Krishnagiri District Collector C Dinesh Kumar said proper safety measures did not appear to have been in place. He asked why the workers went into the tank at all, since sludge can normally be cleared from outside through a trapdoor. Police are examining whether a chemical powder used to suppress odour reacted with stagnant residue to give off the gas. They are also checking whether confined-space rules, protective equipment and supervision of contract staff were followed. A case has been registered, and the district administration is overseeing the inquiry. No FIR details such as sections or named accused have been made public.
Ecolab said it is working with local authorities, expressed condolences and called safety a core value. The company said it will pay Rs 30 lakh in compensation to each family, in addition to insurance. Tata Electronics and Apple had not commented publicly. Officials of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board are expected to inspect the premises.
Tamil Nadu Industries Minister Virudhai Magal Keerthana offered condolences, told the district administration to support the families and said action would follow the investigation. A BJP spokesperson in the state, Narayanan Thirupathy, called for a time-bound probe covering confined-space safety, protective gear, supervision of contract workers and the responsibilities of both the principal employer and the contractor.
A site under scrutiny
The Hosur campus matters to Apple's India plans. Tata's electronics arm accounts for roughly 40 per cent of iPhone assembly in India, with Foxconn handling the rest, and India now makes about a quarter of the world's iPhones. The site has had other trouble in recent months. A ransomware attack on a neighbouring iPhone plant in the same compound leaked documents tied to an unreleased model, state authorities earlier this year warned of a shutdown over alleged groundwater pollution before dropping the matter, and a fire halted production at the components plant in 2024. The gas involved in Monday's deaths has not been identified.
