Four workers were killed and eight others injured in an explosion at a fireworks unit on Saturday at a village near Virudhunagar district
File image showing debris after an explosion ripped through a fireworks factory near Sattur, in Virudhunagar district in February last year. PTI
The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday announced an ex-gratia of Rs three lakh each to families of the persons killed in an explosion at a fireworks unit in Virudhunagar district on 1 January.
Chief Minister MK Stalin said four people have died in the mishap and expressed grief over their death. In a statement, he extended his sympathies with the families of the victims. He said he has directed officials to provide a sum of Rs three lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs one lakh to the injured from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund.
Four workers were killed and eight others injured in an explosion at a fireworks unit on Saturday at a village near Virudhunagar district.
According to The New Minute, the deceased were identified as Kumar from Mettupatti, Periyasamy from Servaikaranpatti, and Veerakumar and Murugesan from Paraipatti. Out of eight others who have sustained injuries, M Muniyandi (35) of Mangalam has suffered 20 percent burns and others have sustained minor injuries from the flying debris. All the injured were admitted to the government hospital in Sivakasi, according to a report by The Hindu.
The mishap occurred at a very interior area, Mettupatti Kammakarai, which falls under Nagalapuram village, a police official said. Following the explosion, the building collapsed and eight others who were nearby and tasked to carry out specific manufacturing processes were injured.
The accident occurred soon after workers reported for work at the firecrackers manufacturing unit and it is yet to be ascertained if the blast and resultant blaze was due to inappropriate handling of chemical compounds or not.
Quoting a complaint from a village official and preliminary probe, police said according to one version, explosion occurred as soon as the door of the chemical storage facility was opened. However, there is also a claim that it could have been triggered by improper mixing of explosives.
As all the four men who were assigned to work at the specific work place, a small building where the explosion took place, are dead, inquiries are on with those injured and completion of probe would help piece together the sequence of events and establish the cause, a local police official, who is part of the investigation team, told PTI.
While confirming the incident, the Virudhunagar district collector said the unit in Pudupatti was a licensed unit and a police case has been registered
Virudhunagar District in Tamil Nadu, including Sivakasi and its nearby villages, is home to a large number of fireworks manufacturing units.
Several mishaps have been reported in previous years, including an accident at Achankulam village in 2020 when over 16 people were killed.
With input from agencies
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