Five workers died on Monday afternoon while working in a sewer connected to a water treatment plant in the town of Casteldaccia near Palermo, Sicily, according to firefighters who recovered the bodies. A sixth worker was seriously injured and in intensive care, local officials said. Girolamo Bentivoglio, chief of firefighters in Palermo, said the workers had breathed in hydrogen sulfide, a gas often present at waste treatment plants that is toxic in high concentrations. The accident raised a new round of outrage over the incidence of workplace deaths in Italy. In April, seven workers were killed in an explosion in a hydroelectric plant near Bologna, while five died in Florence during the construction of a supermarket in February.

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Persons: Girolamo Bentivoglio, Mr, Bentivoglio Organizations: Eurostat, European Union Locations: Casteldaccia, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Bologna, Florence