Tamil Nadu: 2 workers killed, 4 injured in blast at fireworks factory

Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu): Two workers were killed and four others grievously injured in a blast at a private fireworks factory at Kurippankulam village under Nazareth police limits in this southern district of Tamil Nadu on Saturday evening.

Police said the blast occurred due to friction when the workers were mixing highly inflammable chemicals used for making fancy variety crackers at Sivasakthi Fireworks Factory.

The godown was completely destroyed in the fire following the blast.

Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services personnel rushed to the factory and extinguished the fire after a couple of hours of battle.

The deceased were identified as K Muthukannan (21) and T Vijay (25).

The injured, including two women, were undergoing treatment at Tirunelveli Government Medical College Hospital and Sathankulam Government Hospital.

Nazareth police have registered a case and arrested Ramkumar, owner of the factory.

Chief Minister M.K.Stalin in a post on ‘X’ (former Twitter) expressed his condolences over the loss of lives in the incident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs three lakhs each to the families of the deceased and Rs one lakh to the injured workers.