They are believed to have suffocated to death inside an elevator shaft inside the facility where their bodies were found on Friday at midday.
Police in Wamala Region, Mityana District are investigating the death of three people at a coffee factory.
Wamala Region Police spokesperson Racheal Kawala identified the deceased as employees of Zigoti Coffee Works Limited; Collins Sseguya (21), James Kimbugwe (19) and Bashir Migala (25).
They are believed to have suffocated to death inside an elevator shaft inside the facility where their bodies were found on Friday at midday.
Kawala said in a statement that at around midday on Friday, the Mityana district Police fire station received a call from Musa Mutagwa, the factory’s manager that three adult males had tragically died in the factory’s elevator shaft.
The factory is located in Zigoti South LC1 in Zigoti town council.
“Upon receiving this information, the fire prevention and emergency rescue team from Mityana promptly rushed to the scene and successfully retrieved the bodies,” said Kawala.
Preliminary Police findings suggest that at the time of the incident, the coffee processing machine was in operation but encountered a malfunction and was subsequently turned off.
One of the employees, Kimbugwe, then climbed down the shaft to find out what the problem was. But he did not return up.
“This prompted Sseguya and Migala to descend and attempt to rescue their colleague, but unfortunately, they too did not make it out,” said Kawala.
As investigations into the three deaths continue, Police believe that they may have succumbed to suffocation due to an oxygen deficiency down the elevator shaft.
The bodies were then taken to Mityana District Hospital for post-mortem examination.