Sept. 21: Post-mortems conducted today on eight oil pilferers who died on Friday night established that “inhalation of corrosive gas” led to suffocation and their eventual death.

They were among the 15 who died while pilfering fuel from an oil-carrying train at Saiding in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district bordering Nagaland.

The doctors at Diphu Civil Hospital where the post-mortems were conducted today said organs like lungs, kidneys, livers, stomachs and viscera had been sent to the forensic laboratory in Guwahati for chemical analysis to ascertain the nature of the chemical inhaled by the oil pilferers.

Hiteswar Teron, one of the three doctors who conducted the post-mortems said: “Inhalation of corrosive gas caused spasm and then obstructed the air passage in the lungs.”

The bodies bore marks of “chemical burns”, he said.

The additional superintendent of police, Karbi Anglong, N. Goswami who reached the site after nearly three hours, said he and his team members were unable to stay at the spot because of the strong fumes in the air.

“The air was filled with the smell of chemical even from a distance of 1km from the site,” he said adding that they felt a burning sensation in their eyes and noses and found it difficult to breathe.

The NRL officials had no clue about the cause of the deaths. “Such thefts have taken place in the past, but there was no death,” senior manager (marketing) of NRL, B.J. Phukan, said.

He ruled out poisonous chemical reaction inside the wagons after the fuel came in contact with residue matters.

“In that case those who had loaded the wagons at our loading point would have been affected,” he said. According to him, a proper study of the sequence of events leading to the deaths could help solve the mystery.

According to S.D. Barua, a petroleum scientist with the North East Institute of Science and Technology, the barrels brought by the thieves should be examined.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) divisional railway manager (Lumding), S.S. Narayanan, said losses would be known only after the consignment reaches the destination and the consignee takes stock.

Phukan said the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd depot at Mughalsarai had been advised to exercise caution while emptying the wagons.

The train is expected to reach Mughalsarai tomorrow.

The chief public relations officer of NFR, Samir Goswami, said the train’s wagons were checked and the lids resealed at Dhansiri station.