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TN firecracker unit blast: Bodies charred beyond recognition; kin await DNA tests
The blast ripped through the Vanaja Fireworks veranda around 3.30pm as the workers were reportedly handling raw materials and finishing firecrackers
Relatives of at least 23 workers killed in a blast at a firecracker manufacturing unit at Kattanarpatti in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar district were awaiting DNA tests to get their bodies charred beyond recognition, even as forensic experts were at the site on Monday as part of the investigation into the explosion.
A relative of one of the workers said doctors told them that the bodies would be identified based on DNA tests because they were completely unrecognisable.
Mariselvam, who lost three family members, said normally the manufacturing unit remains closed on Sundays, but higher wages offered for Sunday work prompted the workers to work that day. “About 30 workers were working on the verandah at the unit, instead of two or three, which led to such devastation.”
The blast ripped through the Vanaja Fireworks veranda around 3.30pm as the workers were reportedly handling raw materials and finishing firecrackers. At least three rooms of the unit were reduced to rubble, and adjacent structures were levelled under the impact of the blast. A fire service person was seriously injured in a second explosion at the factory.
Rescuers were pulling out the bodies from the rubble when the three small rooms at the unit collapsed. An official said 19 women and four men were killed in the tragedy.
Four fire tenders from Sivakasi and Virudhunagar were pressed into service, and they managed to douse the flames around 8pm.
District police superintendent N Shreenatha said the owner of the firecracker manufacturing unit is absconding, and they have formed special teams to trace him.
On April 16, a similar blast in Virudhunagar’s Vembakottai claimed four lives. Firecracker manufacturing units are a major source of income for the people in the region, about 550 km south of Chennai.
