One woman was killed and eight others were critically injured in a fire at a crackers manufacturing unit at Dharmapuram Agraharam near Akiveedu in West Godavari district on Thursday.
The victim was identified as Gotla Arunakumari (32), worker engaged in manufacturing fireworks, from the same village. The other eight women, who sustained serious burns were shifted to the government hospitals at Bhimavaram and the city and their condition was stated to be stable.
According to eye-witness, the area where the unit was located was reportedly reverberated with deafening sound of a massive explosion which took place in three spells, one after the other. The fire tenders which rushed to the place from Bhimavaram brought the fire under control but failed to arrive at a conclusion on the cause of the accident. A case has been booked against the management of the fireworks factory at the Akiveedu police station.
Collector Katamneni Bhaskar and MLA V. Sivarama Raju visited the accident place and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 under the National Benefit Scheme and another Rs 3 lakh from the Chief Minister’s relief fund to the victim’s family members.
Minister for Women and Child Welfare Peetala Sujatha promised to extend financial help for treatment of the injured women.