Toll in cracker unit blast rises to 8, as 4 more die

The four people were fighting for life after they were admitted in the hospital as they had sustained more than 90 percent burn injuries on their bodies.  The incident happened on Monday when workers of RR Fireworks at Kangarakottai, owned by Deivapandi, were busy packing chemicals for some special crackers. The workers were actually making fancy crackers inside the sheds and when they were filling the mani marundhu inside the cylindrical shaped cardboard, it triggered a sudden blast. It is said that suddenly there was a friction which triggered the explosion. In this incident three workers Subbuthai, Saraswathy and Selvi died on the spot while another worker Suryanaayanasamy were rushed to the multi-speciality burns ward of Sivakasi GH where they died, Four more workers Muthumari, Mamunirajan, Veeralakshmi and Selvaraja sustained nearly 100 percent burns.  On Tuesday Mamunirajan and Veeralakshmi succumbed to injuries taking the death toll to eight.

Sources claimed that if the unit had to manufacture fancy crackers it should have been certified by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO). Officials checked for the PESO license for the plant where the explosion occurred on Monday and confirmed that the plant had the PESO license to manufacture fancy crackers.