3 dead in Tamil Nadu's Illegal Firework Unit's Explosion

An explosion at an illegal fireworks unit in Tamil Nadu's Virudhunagar district killed three people including two women and a five-year-old boy on Monday morning.

Two men who got injured, and were taken to the government hospital in Sivakasi, are being treated. Among the two, one of the victims is in severe condition after suffering more than 70% burn damage.

The house where the incident occurred is in Sattur's Kalaignar Colony was roughly 20 kilometres from the district's firecracker manufacturing centre of Sivakasi.

On Monday, around 8.30 a.m. the explosion occurred, firefighters reached the spot with a quick response. Officials also stated that because the unit operated without a licence, it was too early to determine the number of people involved.

Virudhunagar collector J Meghanatha Reddy said that they were operating the factory within the house and later all the members inside were recovered from the house and were rescued.

Meanwhile, before being slammed by a 2018 Supreme Court judgement on pollution, there were thousands of people employed in the firecracker manufacturing industry. After getting government training and help, many producers have moved to make "green crackers" as a result of the directive.

Firecracker manufacturing units in Sivakasi, for example, used to supply 90-95 per cent of India's firecrackers, bringing in roughly USD 800 million in income.