Blast in firecracker unit: 32 dead

A major explosion in an unlicensed firecracker godown in a village, 100 km north of here, left 32 dead on Friday, a day before the Hindu festival of Diwali.

The explosion at Pallipattu, 80 km from Tiruvallur and on the border with Andhra Pradesh, occurred around 7 p.m. as people were thronging the godown for last-minute purchase of firecrackers.

Tiruvallur district collector V Palanikumar told Asiantribune.com that "the bodies were so badly burnt that only 23 have been identified so far, that too on the basis of missing person reports from relatives".

He said of those identified, 20 were from Chittoor, Renikunta and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh and three were from Pallipattu in Tamil Nadu. One of the victims was a salesgirl in the godown.

He said" so powerful was the blast and so narrow the entrance to the godown that it took more than two hours to bring the fire under control".

The bodies have been sent to Tiruttani Government hospital for post-mortem examination. The official said the bodies of victims from Andhra Pradesh would be handed over to the Chittoor collector at Tiruttani.

Mr Palanikumar said the owner and the person in charge of the godown had been arrested.

This is the third such explosion in Tamil Nadu this Diwali season. Twenty-seven persons died in two explosions in July, the first in an unlicenced firecracker godown in a village near Madurai and the second a firecracker unit in Sivakasi.

- Asian Tribune -