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A worker who was cleaning an underground storage tank at the water purification plant of the Daegu Waterworks Headquarters died of suffocation from gas.
Two civil servants who went to the rescue were also in critical condition.
Reporter Kim Nak-seong of TBC reports.
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is the Jukgok Water Purification Office of Daegu Waterworks Headquarters.
A worker rescued from an underground storage tank installed to collect water is given CPR, but is unconscious.
Person A in her 60s, an employee of an outsourced cleaning company, eventually died.
Two civil servants in their 30s and 50s who went into the reservoir to rescue Mr. A are also in critical condition.
[Lee Yong-soo / Chief of Daegu Gangseo Fire Department: All three of the victims were
unconscious, and the service company employee was in worse condition.
It is a colorless and odorless gas, the highly toxic chemical hydrogen cyanide.
At the time of the accident, 47 ppm, which is close to lethal, was measured at the entrance of the reservoir.
The police are investigating whether harmful gas is measured before work and whether safety equipment is worn.
[Kim Jeong-seop / Head of Daegu City Waterworks Business Division: In principle, we work after measuring toxic gas.
Ventilation seems to have been sufficiently implemented in our view, but the rest of the parts seem a little lacking...
.]
It has been five months since the Act on Punishment of Serious Accidents was enacted, but safety accidents continue to occur, so countermeasures seem necessary.