Three persons were killed and five injured in a blast at a fireworks unit at Aadur Agaram near Kurinjipadi on Wednesday.
M. Valli (40) of Ellappanpettai and Anjapuli (40) of East Colony in Aadur Agaram were thrown away about 15 feet from a work shed and their charred bodies were found on the nearby farmland.
Another worker Palaniammal (60) died on way to the Kurinjipadi government hospital. The injured — Balaji, Sivanandam, Ragothaman, Devaki and Bhuvaneswari — were given the first aid and later shifted to Cuddalore government hospital. While Sivanandam and Ragothaman were taken to a private hospital here, Devaki and Bhuvaneswari to JIPMER Hospital in Puducherry.
The asbestos roofing of the shed was blown to pieces, paper scrolls used for the fireworks and polythene sheets were torn and bits and pieces of the materials were strewn over the foliage of the trees in the vicinity.
Two small hand-held fire-extinguishers were found scattered and a partially burnt cell phone was traced from among the standing crop on the nearby farm. The unit is located in an isolated place, about one km off the Kurinjipadi–Chidambaram road.
Director of Kannan Hospital S. Soundararajan told The Hindu that Sivanandam had suffered 100 per cent burns and Ragothaman 80 per cent burns.
Balaji told this correspondent that he went to the work site at 7 a.m.
At 9 a.m. he heard a cracking sound and immediately ran out of the shed along with others. He had been working in the unit, Amman Fireworks owned by S. Padmavati Saravanan, for the past 15 years, Balaji said adding that the unit was engaged in manufacturing country fireworks that are generally used during local temple festival.
The unit was busy preparing the fireworks for the Aadi month when there would be a series of local temple festivals. He could not say what had triggered the blast.
Divisional Fire Officer A. Kumarasamy told The Hindu that one of the workers who went out for breakfast alerted the Kurinjipadi fire service station at 9.15 a.m. and the fire tenders reached the spot at 9.30 a.m.
He said the manufacture of this kind of fireworks involved lot of grinding and pounding of the explosive substances.
If excess force was applied during the process there would be a possibility of fire and explosion.
When contacted, Superintendent of Police A. Radhika said the owner was a licence holder. Asked whether any action was contemplated against the owner, the SP said Ms. Padmavati was undergoing treatment in hospital for chest pain.
