Four Workers Killed In Blast At Fireworks Unit In Tamil Nadu's Virudhunagar

Following an explosion at a firecracker manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu's Virudhunagar, at least four workers were killed and one was injured. CM MK Stalin has announced financial assistance for the families of the deceased.

Virudhunagar:In a yet another explosion at a private firecracker manufacturing unit, four workers died and one was injured in Tamil Nadu's Virudhunagar district this morning, police said.

On information about the incident, fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames and a rescue operation was initiated immediately. The injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital, an officer of the local police station said.

Initial investigation has revealed that the manufacturing unit was operating with a license from Sahadev TRO of Chatur taluk in Achankulam. It is being suspected that the explosion may have occurred due to improper handling of the chemicals and other raw materials that were kept at the unit but the actual reason is yet to be ascertained, the officer added.

The deceased have been identified as Rajkumar (age 45), Marisamy (age 40), Selvakumar (age 35) and Mohan (age 30), police said.

Chief Minister MK Stalin has announced a financial assistance of Rs three lakh each for the deceased families from the CM's General Fund.

Notably, a similar explosion at a firecracker factory in Viredhnagar's Sivaksi claimed nine lives last month. Following the incident, Chief Minister MK Stalin had extended his condolences to the deceased families and assured of them of compensation.

Earlier in February, 10 people were killed in another firecracker factory explosion in the same district. At that time Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of the kin of the deceased.

Read more