Baby among 3 killed during cracker explosion at Tirupur house

CHENNAI:Three including a nine-month-old baby died and 14 others were injured in a cracker blast at a house in Tirupur on Tuesday.

Police identified the deceased as ‘Sullan’ alias Kumar (37), an unidentified woman and nine-month-old Alia Sherin, daughter of Mohammed Hussain residing in the neighbouring house. An inquiry is under way to trace the identity of the woman, whose body was severed into different parts in the impact of the mishap.

The blast happened around noon in the house of Karthik (44) and his wife Sathyapriya (34) from Ponnammal Street in Pandian Nagar. They were residing on the ground floor with their two sons while renting out the first floor of the house.

Tirupur City Police Commissioner S Lakshmi said Karthi’s brother-in-law Saravanakumar, who runs a cracker shop in Nambiyur in Erode, had engaged workers to make crackers illegally in a portion of Karthik’s house for Deepavali and temple festivals.

“As his shop was sealed, Saravanakumar had applied for renewal of license. He was manufacturing crackers illegally in the residential area over the last few months,” she said. Police have picked up Saravanakumar and one more person for inquiry. The blast left the front portion of the house completely damaged and a few other nearby houses partially damaged.

Of the 14 persons undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Coimbatore and Tirupur Government Medical College Hospital, six were children, who were playing on the street during the mishap.

A few migrant workers staying near the ill-fated house were also injured. Tirupur District Collector T Christuraj inspected the rescue operations at the blast site.

Meanwhile, expressing shock over the explosion in a residential area in Tirupur, claiming three lives, Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami said that the incident indicates that district administrations across the State have become defunct under the DMK regime.

He demanded CM Stalin to order a detailed probe to find out the cause of the accident and took to social media to register his strong protest against the incident and questioned how the government and police department were unaware of such illegal activities.