9 dead in Tamil Nadu firecracker factory accident

Preliminary reports indicate that untrained workers were mixing chemicals inside the factory when the explosion was triggered

Chennai: Nine people were killed died and several more injured in an accident in a firecracker factory in Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur district on Monday. The accident occurred at the Yaazh FireWorks in the Thirumanur area of the district, police said.

The e accident occurred at Yaazh FireWorks in Thirumanur in Ariyalur. (HT photo)

Preliminary reports indicate that untrained workers were mixing chemicals when the explosion was triggered inside the factory . As many as 23 workers were inside when the accident occurred on Monday morning, trapping them inside the factory.

“Just this morning three new women began working here. They are among those dead,” a police officer, who did not wish to be named, said.

The owner Rajendran and his son-in-law who was in-charge of the factory were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Explosive Substances Act. “Both have been arrested,” the officer said.

Only seven of the nine victims have been identified so far. “It is a licensed unit,” the officer said, adding that the unit was operating with a license since 2014, and the permit was recently renewed until 2024.

Several fire figthers took hours to bring the fire under control. “It took more than two-and-a-half hours to put out the fire. It was a very bad accident,” said a rescue personnel.

The charred bodies were sent to the Ariyalur Government College Hospital. Those critical are being treated at Thanjavur Medical College Hospital.

Chief minister M K Stalin announced a payment of ₹3 lakh to the families of each of the deceased, ₹1-lakh each to those who suffered serious injuries and ₹50,000 to those with minor injuries.

Monday’s accident comes less than 24 hours after 13 people were charred to death and four persons injured in a massive fire that broke out at a firecracker shop-cum-godown in Attibele in rural Bengaluru near the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border on Saturday.

Many workers hailed from Amnapettai, Kallakurichi district of Tamil Nadu, having arrived for work in anticipation of Diwali. The shop, located near a liquor store, housed an estimated ₹5 crore worth of firecrackers, an HT report, quoted the police as saying.