Around 33 people, mostly factory workers, died of burns and shrapnel injuries after a major fire triggered off blasts inside a firecracker unit, Om Shakti factory, at Sivakasi, in Virudanagar district some 500 km from Chennai on Wednesday afternoon. The death toll could go
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up as scores of people were injured in the accident that occurred around 1pm at the factory where 300 people were inside the unit.
On hearing the explosion, lots of workers rushed out, several of them injured.
The injured have been admitted to local Sivakasi government hospital and Madurai general hospital, which is about 70 km away from Sivakasi, the main hub of firecrackers manufacturing in the country.
Najmal Huda, SP Virudanagar, said it was a major accident.
The Sivakasi cracker factory fire killed at least 33 people. UNI
The fire tenders as also the firefighters are yet to enter the premises of the factory, as some unexploded material was stored in the godown next to the factory that has also caught fire now.
Some 30 workers are feared trapped inside the factory as for some reasons they hid inside.
Several among the inured are said to be in critical condition and the death toll could be much higher, police officials fear.
A police official told IANS on telephone that the accident happened in one of the biggest factories in the area.
He said nearly 40 of the 48 sheds in the sprawling warehouse had been destroyed in the blaze. He said nearly 50 injured people had been taken to hospitals. A medical team was treating those who suffered minor burn injuries.
Thirteen fire tenders battled the flames while more than 25 ambulances ferried the injured to hospitals. The police officer said thick smoke in the factory area hindered rescue efforts.
According to police, the fire from one of the sheds quickly spread to the rest of the factory, due to the huge stock of firecrackers being readied for the upcoming festival season.
Hours after the tragedy, a local official told journalists that around 100 people were still trapped in the factory premises.
Tamil television channels showed intermittent explosions in the area, and a thick smoke rising to the sky. Villagers were seen carrying away the injured in their arms or in large clothes in the absence of stretchers.
Police said the exact numbers inside the factory was not known. Normally, 300 workers work in a firecracker factory
"These are times ahead of Deepavali. So activities go on at breakneck speed in the cracker units," Virudhunagar District Superintendent of Police Najmul Hoda told PTI.
In October 2009, 32 people, most of them Deepavali shoppers, were killed at a cracker godown fire in Pallipattu in Tiruvallur district.
Sivakasi is one of the oldest and biggest firecracker manufacturing hubs in India.
(with agency inputs)
The news is from HT , however somehow i am not able to post the link
