A firefighter transfers bottles of a toxic white powder after two construction workers were poisoned as a result of coming into contact with the substance. The bottles were among 33 excavated from a construction site in Jingmen City in central China's Hubei Province on Tuesday, January 26, 2010. [Photo: cnhubei.com]

Two workers were poisoned after thirty-three bottles of toxic substances were excavated from a commercial housing construction site in Jingmen City in central China's Hubei Province Tuesday, the Chutian Metropolis Daily reports.

According to one construction worker who witnessed the accident, several of his colleagues discovered the poison in a wooden box as they were digging foundations for the new building Tuesday afternoon. Inside the box, which was buried more than a meter underground, were several glass bottles containing white powder.

After a couple of the containers were accidentally broken, the white powders started to burn and emit a white smoke. Two of the workers immediately started to feel dizzy and vomit.

Local firefighters and environmental protection experts rushed to the scene with special equipment to detect the gas, which was identified as phosphorus pentoxide. The substance generates a poisonous gas when it is exposed to air and water.

The two poisoned workers are in a stable condition after receiving treatment in hospital.

Experts from the environmental protection department have safely disposed of the remaining 31 bottles of phosphorus pentoxide.

An investigation is currently underway to try and discover how the bottles came to be buried.