Six persons, including five women, sustained burns in a fire accident at a match factory unit at Bhuvaneswaripettai in Gudiyattam town on Saturday.
Police said Amutha (35), Kumar(23), Panchavarnam (27), Vimala (52), Shanthi (37) and Jothi sustained burns in the accident that took place around 6.15 pm on Saturday. Kumar, who was carrying 50 kg of matchsticks in a bag, accidentally dropped them on a pile of match boxes. Within a flash, the match sticks and boxes caught fire due to friction and were reduced to ashes. In the accident, five women who were making match boxes sustained burns.
Amutha sustained 25 per cent burns while others sustained minor injurious. They were rushed the GH in the town, said DSP K Sundaran.
The Gudiyattam town police rushed to the spot and conducted an inquiry. A case was registered against the owners of the unit -- Neelakandan (53) and his wife Padmini (43) -- for running the unit without adequate safety measures. They were remanded.
Collector P Sankar visited the hospital and met the victims. He also inquiried about the mishap. He later visited the accident spot in the match factory.