Villupuram: Five persons were charred to death and at least 11 others injured in a blast at a firecracker unit at Vanur in Villupuram district on Sunday.
The workers were engaged in manufacturing crackers for the Deepavali festival when a fire broke out suddenly in the unit leading to the blast and the entire unit went up in flames. The injured were rushed to JIPMER hospital here. Fire and police personnel who reached the blast site cordoned off the area. As many as 21 people including 6 women were working in the firecracker unit.
“The cause of the blast is yet to be ascertained,” district collector L. Subrahmaniam told reporters. “Proper treatment would be given to the injured, the district administration would take all possible action that such incidents do not repeat,” he said.
The Law Minister C.V. Shanmugam, who is also the Villupuram MLA, visited the spot and also met the injured at the hospital.
