TNI Bureau: As many as 18 people died in less than 24 hours due to some unknown reasons in Odisha’s Rourkela, Sundargarh and Jharsuguda. While the exact reason behind their death is yet to be known, heatstroke is suspected to be the cause.
Out of 18 deaths, 12 deaths were reported from the Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH), while 2 cases were from Jharsuguda and another 4 deaths were from Sundargarh.
According to Ashutosh Kulkarni, the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of Sundargarh, another 23 patients are currently under treatment at the RGH, and another 10 patients have been shifted to Hi-Tech hospital in Bhubaneswar as their condition worsened.
While speaking about the reason of the unnatural deaths of so many people in less than 24 hours, the ADM said that steps are being taken to conduct the autopsy of the bodies following which the exact reason of their deaths could be ascertained.
Meanwhile, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Satyabrata Sahu, said that from the preliminary reports it is suspected that they died while working during the peak hour. An investigation would be conducted in the unnatural death cases, he informed.
The SRC also directed all the district collectors to strictly ban working between 11 AM and 3 PM and take strict action against the violators as per the law.