Two employees of Bokaro Steel Plant died on Monday morning and 17 were being treated following a poisonous gas leak in the plant on Sunday night.

"Two of our employees died early in the morning and 17 others are under treatment. They are likely to be discharged in the evening," the plant's Chief Communication Officer Basant Thakur said from Bokaro, over 100 km from Ranchi.

The leakage occurred from the blast furnace area-two of the steel plant and the affected were rushed to Bokaro General Hospital, Thakur said.

Steel Authority of India Limited Chairman V S Jain has constituted a high-level inquiry team to probe the incident.

The inquiry team would comprise Sasikant (Executive Director - Safety), K S Singh (General Manager-in charge of maintenance/utility of BSP) and S C Nayak (Executive Director-Operations).

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Niraj Sinha had earlier said that carbon monoxide had leaked from the plant.