5 killed in cracker unit blast near Virudhunagar

Sources claimed that Sakthishanmugam, a resident of Mani Nagar at Sivakasi in Virudhunagar district, owned a licenced cracker unit, Nagamalli Fireworks, at Vetrilaiurani. 

There were 15 sheds and nearly 70 workers were involved in the manufacture of crackers in the unit on Saturday. 

Meanwhile, Shanmugavel (40) of Melaotampatti village, was mixing raw materials required for manufacturing crackers inside the chemical mixing room. Suddenly, an explosion occurred due to friction of chemicals. 

In the impact of the blast, the entire chemical mixing room collapsed and Shanmugavel, who died on the spot. 

As sparks from the blast flew and fell on the nearby working sheds, the crackers that were being made in those rooms also started bursting. As a result, four more workers, Paulraj (45), Murugeshwari (21), Kalarani (38) of Vetrilaiurani, and Vijaya (35) of Melakothainachiyarpuram sustained burns and died. 

Three other working sheds were also completely destroyed in the impact of the explosion. Fire and Rescue services personnel removed the bodies of the five victims from the debris and sent it to the Sivakasi Government Hospital for post-mortem. 

Four others, Parvathy (40), Ilavarasi (18), Sankaramoorthy (40) and Anandammal (55) of Vetrilaiurani village, who suffered injuries were admitted to the Sivakasi Government Hospital. 

Virudhunagar Superintendent of Police M Rajarajan and the District Revenue Officer C Muthukumaran inspected the explosion-hit unit and conducted investigations. 

Following this, the foreman of the cracker unit, Mahendran surrendered with the police. The Vembakottai police have booked a case and are investigating.