Tata Electronics Plant Near Hosur, Krishnagiri: Three Contract Workers Die Cleaning a Wastewater Tank, Collector Says Two Went In After the First Fainted and Safety Measures Were Not in Place, Inquiry Ordered, Gas and Cause Not Confirmed

What happened

On the evening of Monday, 9 November 2026, three contract workers died while cleaning a wastewater treatment tank inside the Tata Electronics plant near Hosur in Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu. The plant makes components for Apple iPhones. ETV Bharat puts the time at about 5 pm and says the three entered the tank for cleaning, reportedly breathed toxic gas and collapsed. Plant staff brought them out and took them by ambulance to a private hospital in Hosur, where doctors declared all three dead on arrival, ETV Bharat says. The bodies were sent to the Government Medical College Hospital, Krishnagiri, for post-mortem.

The Krishnagiri Collector gave the sequence to The New Indian Express and The Statesman. He said the first worker looked into the tank and fainted after breathing gas, a second went to check on him and also collapsed, and the third then went in to check on both and collapsed as well. A fourth member of the team saw this and raised the alarm. The Collector also told The New Indian Express that proper safety measures were not in place while the effluent treatment plant was being handled, and that the district administration was inquiring. We give no names; the reports name all three men and differ on their ages and villages.

What the reports say

• When and where: Monday evening, at about 5 pm (ETV Bharat), at the Tata Electronics plant at Vanniyapuram near Uddanapalli in Krishnagiri district (The New Indian Express, The Statesman). ETV Bharat calls it the Marigold plant and says over 1,500 people work there in shifts.
• The tank and the work: A nano-filtration feed tank in the effluent treatment plant (The New Indian Express, The Statesman); ETV Bharat says a nano-filtration bead tank used for wastewater treatment; Deccan Herald says the workers were clearing sludge from an ETP tank.
• The workers: Three contract workers, hired for maintenance of the plant’s water-filtration system through another firm. The Collector says the workers’ employer had itself been engaged by Nalco (The New Indian Express); Deccan Herald and ETV Bharat say they were engaged through Nalco.
• Rescue and hospital: Plant staff rescued all three and took them to a private hospital in Hosur, where they were declared dead (ETV Bharat); The New Indian Express says declared brought dead. The bodies went to Krishnagiri Government Medical College Hospital.
• Cause: Police say preliminary inquiries suggest inhalation of toxic gas, and that the cause will be known after the final post-mortem report (The New Indian Express). The Statesman says the exact cause is yet to be established. No outlet names the gas.
• Official response: The Collector inspected the spot; Denkanikottai revenue and police officers and the Joint Director of the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health visited, and the Joint Director declined to comment while the probe was on (The New Indian Express). Rayakottai police registered a case and are looking at the contractor’s role and whether the workers had protective equipment (ETV Bharat). Tamil Nadu’s Industries Minister said on X that the deaths would be thoroughly investigated and action taken (The Statesman).
• The company: Tata Electronics did not comment to Deccan Herald. A Business Today video headline says Apple and Tata have ordered probes; we saw that only as a headline.
• An earlier incident: In September 2024 a fire at a chemical unit within Tata Electronics’ operations near Rayakottai left 11 people with smoke inhalation and other complications; no one died (The New Indian Express, The Statesman). That was a separate incident.

Where reports differ and what we do not know

• The sequence: Only the Collector’s account of who went in and when is available, and it is second-hand, not a finding. The New Indian Express adds that the third worker had asked the second to check on the first; The Statesman says only that the second went to check.
• Names of the tank and the plant: Feed tank, bead tank and ETP tank are used by different outlets; the plant is the Marigold plant in one report. They are in the same compound.
• The employer: Reports agree the workers were contract staff linked to Nalco and differ on whether Nalco employed them or engaged another firm that did.
• The place: Uddanapalli and Vanniyapuram are used for the plant’s location, and Rayakottai police registered the case. They are in the same area; we plot the nearest named village.
• Gas or lack of oxygen: Outlets say toxic gas, asphyxiation, or simply suffocation. Whether the cause was a poisonous gas, too little oxygen or both is for the post-mortem and the inquiry.
• Not known: The gas, whether a gas test, permit, breathing apparatus, harness or standby rescue team was used, how long the tank had been closed, the post-mortem result and the inquiry findings.

What this case teaches

A wastewater or effluent tank is a confined space, and sludge and treatment chemicals can release gas or use up the oxygen with no warning. If the Collector’s account holds, this case follows the pattern we describe in our guide to confined spaces, tanks and sumps, and why rescuers die too: one worker collapses, and the next two go in to help and are overcome. The remedies are dull and well known: a written entry permit, a gas test before and during the job, ventilation, a harness and line, a trained watcher outside and rescue equipment that people have practised with. A principal employer cannot leave these to a contractor; it needs to see them in writing.

See also our cases on the Sola sewage plant sump deaths in Ahmedabad, the Ujjain hotel waste chamber deaths and the Tadadi fish hold deaths, and our guides to gas leaks in India, chemical industry safety and PPE in the workplace.