Over 150 workers had a miraculous escape after an accidental fire destroyed 10 working sheds in a fireworks unit near Sattur in Virudhunagar district on Tuesday. Four workers, including a woman, suffered minor injuries, police said.
The police said that friction while handling chemicals led to the fire at Meena Fireworks at Sivasangupatti under Elayirampannai police limits around 10 a.m.
“As the smoke gushed out of a particular working shed, alert workers took to their heels and escaped to a safe distance,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (Sivakasi) A.C. Vellaiyan, who rushed to the spot, said.
People were working in all the 72 sheds, he said.
One suffered burns
Except for M. Johnson (30) of Panaiadipatti, who suffered five per cent burn injuries, others – M. Mariammal (65) of Elayirampannai, A. Augustine (23) of Marganathapuram and D. Glaurance (38) of Abinnagaram – sustained bruises as they tripped on the ground while escaping from the scene of accident, Virudhunagar Collector V. Rajaraman said after visiting them at Kovilpatti Government Hospital, where they have been admitted.
Three others had taken treatment at the local primary health centre as outpatients.
Training helped them
In a statement, Additional Director, Industrial Safety and Health, A. Srinivasan said that the training programme conducted by the department on safe way of escaping from the work spot during emergency situations had helped the workers on Tuesday.
The drill conducted in the past had helped save many lives, he added.
Three fire tenders from Sattur, Sivakasi and Kovilpatti fought for nearly an hour to put out the fire. In the impact of the fire accident, one of the working sheds was completely razed to the ground.
The police have booked the owner, S. Kannan, and the foreman, T. Antonyraj (53), for negligent conduct with respect to explosives and under the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act.
The foreman was picked up for questioning, the police said.