Three contract workers died in a tank at Tata's iPhone parts plant. Each family settled for ₹30 lakh
Officials say safety measures were missing at the Hosur wastewater unit. A subcontractor of Ecolab's Nalco Water hired the crew, and Apple is joining the probe.
Three contract workers died on Monday evening inside a wastewater tank at Tata Electronics' plant near Hosur, in India's Tamil Nadu state. The plant makes parts for Apple's iPhones. The local district chief says safety measures were not in place. On Tuesday, after relatives protested, each family agreed to accept 3 million rupees (₹30 lakh) in compensation. Apple, Tata and state officials are now investigating.
The workers were B Akmal, M Sarathikumar and P Kaveri, all from Dharmapuri district. Reports give their ages as 22 to 32. None of them worked for Tata directly.
What happened in the tank#
A four-person crew was cleaning a nanofiltration tank at the plant's effluent treatment plant, the unit that treats factory wastewater. Krishnagiri district collector C Dinesh Kumar described the sequence to The Economic Times.
- Akmal looks into the tank, inhales gas and falls in
- Supervisor Kaveri sends Sarathikumar in to help; he also collapses
- Kaveri goes in herself and collapses; the fourth worker runs for help
- All three are declared dead at a private hospital in Hosur
- Families settle for ₹30 lakh each after police step in
- Officials order Tata to file an action taken report
Source: The Economic Times, The New Indian Express
The incident happened at about 5:10 p.m., NDTV reported, citing police. The tank is cleaned every two months.
"There were no proper safety measures in place while handling the ETP," Kumar told The New Indian Express. An official at the state's Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health told The Indian Express that the crew lacked proper safety gear.
A source told The New Indian Express the workers inhaled hydrogen sulfide, a gas that builds up in sludge. Police say the cause will be confirmed by post-mortem reports.
Who was responsible for the tank#
The deaths sit at the bottom of a chain of contracts. That chain is why the workers' families negotiated with a water company, not with Tata or Apple.
| Company | Role at the tank |
|---|---|
| Tata Electronics | Owns the plant and makes iPhone parts |
| Nalco Water (Ecolab) | Ran the wastewater plant |
| Subcontractor | Hired the four workers |
| Apple | Buys the parts; joining the probe |
Nalco Water is a unit of US-based Ecolab. It hired the crew through another firm, named in reports as Permacorp or Perma Tech. Nalco Water said it takes the incident "extremely seriously," The Mac Observer reported.
The families reached their deal with Nalco Water officials on Tuesday, after the district police chief stepped in, according to The New Indian Express. Relatives had protested at the hospital. The paper's Tamil Nadu desk shared the settlement on X.
What officials and Apple are doing#
Collector Kumar told the Tata unit to review the safety record of the firms that run its wastewater plant. He also ordered a detailed action taken report on the causes, the lapses and the fixes. The wastewater unit can restart only after officials clear it. There is no plan to shut the whole plant, he told The Economic Times.
Tamil Nadu industries minister Virudhai Magal Keerthana posted on X that the deaths "will be thoroughly investigated." She wrote that "the safety and dignity of every worker must remain paramount." Her post drew more than 900 likes, more than any news outlet's post on the deaths that we found.
Apple, Tata and the state will investigate, Reuters reported, and one source said an Apple team was visiting the plant to help. Apple has made no public statement. Apple, Tata Electronics and Nalco Water did not reply to Reuters, The Mac Observer said. The factory was closed for Deepavali when the deaths happened, The Indian Express reported.
ThePrint, a Delhi news site, also reported the deaths as asphyxiation at an iPhone parts factory.
Why this plant matters to Apple#
The Hosur site makes iPhone casings and other parts. On high-end phones, the casing is the frame that holds everything else, and making it takes special tools and finishing, The Indian Express said. A separate Tata plant in the same compound assembles finished iPhones.
India now makes about a quarter of the world's iPhones, and Tata handles about 40% of India's iPhone assembly, Al Jazeera reported, citing Reuters. Foxconn does the rest.
The site has had a rough run. A fire halted production at the parts plant in 2024. This year, state officials warned of a shutdown over claims of groundwater pollution, then dropped the matter. A ransomware attack on the nearby assembly plant leaked papers tied to the iPhone 18 Pro, Reuters has reported.
The question for the probe#
Standard safety practice for this kind of work, known as confined-space entry, calls for testing the air and using breathing gear before anyone goes in. The collector said his inquiry will check confined-space entry, gas monitoring, protective gear and rescue plans. Two of the three workers died trying to save a colleague. The inquiry will show whether the crew had any gear for a safe rescue.
The probe will decide who failed: the subcontractor, Nalco Water, Tata, or all three. Apple's supplier rules require safe working conditions, so its findings will matter too. For more on India's tech workforce this week, read our story on Qualcomm's India layoffs.
Cite this article
Patrick Karsh. “Three contract workers died in a tank at Tata's iPhone parts plant. Each family settled for ₹30 lakh.” 567 Business. Published 2026-11-11. https://567business.com/news/tata-electronics-hosur-iphone-plant-three-workers-die
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