Five people died from suspected from suffocation after they entered a fish fermentation well at a factory in Lom Sak district of Phetchabun province on Monday.
According to the police, the owner of the factory had ordered one of his six employees to clean the well. At first, the factory manager, who is the son-in-law of the owner, went into the well and fainted after a while, prompting the others to jump in to rescue him, but they all lost consciousness as well.
The well is six metres deep and three metres wide.
A sixth worker, identified only as ‘Winai’, was not at the factory at the time, because he was in Loei province delivering fermented fish to a customer. He said he returned to the factory late yesterday, but found no one there and then started searching, until he found all five of his colleagues dead in the well and alerted the police.
Police and officials from the Industrial Works Department rushed to the factory to investigate. They believe that the five men died of suffocation through inhalation of poisonous gases.
Police say that the factory has no operating license issued by the Industrial Works Department.
Five people found dead in a fish fermentation well