Cracker blast kills 3, damages 12 houses

The mishap also left a dozen houses damaged, with walls developing cracks and roof tiles collapsing down. According to police, the deceased persons were identified as Senthurpandian, 50, from Indira Gandhi Nagar, S Murugan, 45, from Surampatty and Karthik Raja, 21, who were unloading huge bundles of crackers, when the mishap happened.

Karthik Raja was studying mechanical engineering, final year, at a private college, while Murugan runs a grocery shop and Senthurpandian, driver of the mini door van.

According to police, Karthik’s father Sugumaran also runs a grocery shop. Murugan and Sugumaran had purchased crackers in bulk from Sivakasi ahead for Deepavali. Police inquiries revealed that they had bought high-intensity crackers that were banned and brought them for sale in the local neighbourhood.

While they were unloading the crackers from the vehicle that were to be stocked in Sugumaran’s house in at Sastri Nagar, the crackers blasted. 

The bodies of the three persons were ripped apart in the blast. Locals claimed that the blast sound was heard for about 3 kilometres. “We initially thought it was a transformer blast. However, as the power remained intact. Only then we came to know that it was a cracker blast,” said S Mariappan, farmer and resident of Sastri Nagar.  

On receiving information, the fire and rescue personnel rushed to the spot and battled for about three hours to douse the fire. The bodies of the deceased persons had been sent for a post-mortem at Erode GH.

The Erode district Superintendent of Police S Sakthiganesan visited the scene of crime. Huge bundles of crackers stocked in the house of Sugumaran were seized and taken to a place for safety. 

The police have registered a case against Surampatty and further investigations are on.