Chief Minister M K Stalin has announced cash relief of Rs five lakh to each of the victims’ families and Rs one lakh each to the injured persons under intensive care
Representation image. News18
At least five people were killed and 10 injured in a blast at a firecracker shop in Sankarapuram town in Kallakurichi district in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, police said. However, as per a CNN-News18 report 25 people were injured.
Chief Minister MK Stalin expressed grief over the incident and announced cash relief of Rs five lakh to each of the victims’ families and Rs one lakh each to the injured persons under intensive care.
“At least five persons, suspected to be owner and workers, at the firecracker shop put up in Sankarapuram ahead of Diwali, were killed,” a senior police officer told PTI. The five people, who sustained injuries in the blast, were admitted to the Kallakurichi government hospital, he said.
According to locals, the shop was packed with firecrackers ahead of a Diwali sale.
Fire tenders from Sankarapuram and Kallakurichi rushed to the spot to put out the flames, even as the sudden blast leading to the explosion of the firecrackers caused a panic in the town.
A similar incident was reported in Gujarat’s Anand in August this year when a fire broke out at a firecracker shop. One firefighter sustained injuries in the rescue operation that followed. Similarly, three people were killed in an explosion at an illegal firecracker factory near Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar district in June this year.
Earlier this month, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin urged his counterparts in Delhi, Odisha, Rajasthan and Haryana to reconsider the blanket ban on firecrackers.
Stating that such a blanket ban is “not reasonable”, the chief minister said in a letter to his counterparts that the sale of firecrackers falls within the norms set by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal.
With input from agencies