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RIGA, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Three men and a woman died and three other people were taken to hospital after they inhaled poisonous gas that leaked from a manure tank on a dairy farm in central Latvia on Friday, local media reported.
The tragic accident happened on a farmstead in Jaunberze municipality in the central Latvian district of Dobele. Three farmhands who lost their lives in the accident had been working on the farm without contracts, lsm.lv news website reported.
The farm's former owner Peteris Maklers, 65, was also among the fatalities, according to information obtained by LETA news agency.
Raimonds Sipols, a local official from Jaunberze, said the people were killed by carbon dioxide that had leaked from a manure tank.
According to the police, the leak occurred in a closed room under renovation. A malfunctioning of a safety valve apparently caused gas to leak from one of the tanks as manure was being pumped from one tank into another.
A criminal investigation has been started into the accident to establish its exact causes.
A 36-years-old man was in the most serious condition after the accident and was rushed to hospital unconsciously.
The two other hospitalized victims are children -- a 10-years-old girl and a 13-years-old boy. Their condition has been described as serious but stable. Enditem
