Keonjhar, June 29: They were too young to be working in a shrimp processing factory hundreds of kilometres away from home. Many had barely crossed Class V. Some had managed to pass Matriculation before poverty forced them to abandon their education. At an age when they should have been sitting in classrooms, they were working 12-hour shifts in a seafood factory in Tamil Nadu, chasing a future their villages could never offer.

Today, many of them are back in their remote Juang villages of Keonjhar district. But they have returned with haunting memories that refuse to leave.

"We escaped death, but we can never forget what we saw," says Pratibha Juang, one of the survivors.

More than 100 young men and women from Odisha's Keonjhar district, most of them belonging to the Juang tribal community, had travelled to Tamil Nadu through labour contractors around four months ago. They were promised a monthly salary of ₹15,000. But after deductions by the middlemen, only about ₹9,000 reached their hands.

They worked in two exhausting 12-hour shifts—from 9 am to 9 pm and from 9 pm to 9 am. Workers slept in four large dormitories inside the factory premises. Every shift employed nearly 100 workers.

The tragedy unfolded on a quiet Sunday morning.

Those who had completed the night shift returned to their rooms around 9 am and fell asleep after hours of work. Sunday meant biryani at the factory. Co-workers called Sujani Juang from Kodipasha village to join them for the meal.

She refused. She was tired. She chose sleep over food.

No one knew that would become her final sleep.

Around 11 am, ammonia gas leaked inside the factory.

"The workers who were on duty managed to run outside and save themselves. But those who were sleeping in the rooms never got the chance," recalls Pratibha, her voice trembling.

Within minutes, the gas spread through the dormitories.

Many never woke up.

The toxic fumes made breathing impossible. Eyes burned uncontrollably. More than 30 workers were hospitalised, while 13 Odia workers—including 12 from Keonjhar and one from Angul—lost their lives.

Among the dead were two young women from Kodipasha village—Sujani Juang and Phulmani Juang.

Back in Kodipasha, silence now hangs over the village.

Fourteen workers have returned home. Eight others remain in hospitals in Tamil Nadu, still recovering.

The returning workers say they never wanted to leave home in the first place.

"There is no work in the village. We cannot farm because elephants destroy our crops. There are hardly any employment opportunities. So we had no option but to go outside," they say.

Migration has become a way of life here.

Kodipasha lies nearly 50 kilometres from the nearest block headquarters. Development work is rare. Even when government projects come, machines often replace labourers.

Agriculture, once the backbone of the village economy, has become increasingly uncertain because of frequent elephant raids that destroy standing crops.

"No farming, no jobs, no education... what choice do our children have?" ask parents Dhaneswar Adhikari and Narasingha Adhikari.

The story of migration here begins much earlier—inside a classroom.

An ashram school near the village offers education only up to Class VIII. Students wanting to study further have to travel long distances. A few enrolled in colleges after passing Matriculation, but continuing their education became difficult.

Pratibha herself had taken admission to Higher Secondary before dropping out.

"A government bus used to connect our village with the colleges. After the service stopped, many of us could no longer continue our studies," she says.

For families struggling to survive, education slowly gave way to migration.

Agents arrived with promises of jobs and better earnings.

Teenagers packed their bags.

Parents watched them leave with hope.

Now many have returned with trauma.

Some still wake up frightened by memories of the gas leak. Others cannot stop thinking about friends who never came home.

The Odisha government has announced an ex gratia of ₹10 lakh for the families of each deceased worker and sent a special team to Tamil Nadu to assist victims and bring back stranded workers. Sixty-six Odia workers have since been brought back safely.

The Tamil Nadu government has announced ₹2 lakh compensation for each deceased worker.

For the grieving families, however, no amount of compensation can replace lives lost so early.

They now demand greater accountability from the factory management, alleging negligence led to the disaster.