KAKINADA: A family’s thirst for money killed 28 skilled and unskilled innocent people in a fireworks explosion at Vetlapalem village, Samalkota Mandal, Kakinada district, on February 28.
The owning family members - father and two sons - recklessly stored huge quantities of explosives and failed to monitor properly.
As the licence will expire by March 31, 2026 they tried to speed up the crackers production and it led to the major blast that claimed 28 lives of poor workers mostly the unskilled workers. The police arrested the three accused on Thursday and produced before the court.
The father and his two sons jointly operated the Surya Sri fireworks unit, which exploded. Actually, the unit’s license was set to expire on 31 March 2026. Meanwhile, they received orders for Singaramma Chinta Jathara at Mallisala that exceeded the unit’s capacity.
They therefore hired unskilled workers and overstored stock, leading to the explosion. In the massive Vetlapalem firecracker explosion, only one of the nine injured workers remains at Kakinada Government General Hospital (GGH). Another, Pachigalla Nukaratnam, is receiving treatment at Venkata Chalapathi Nursing Home. Chappala Samuel was discharged from Samalkota CHC on March 3.
Kakinada GGH Superintendent Dr Lavanya Kumari stated that the hospital’s CSRMO, Dr Pithani Komali, and the doctors’ team worked tirelessly to rescue the burn victims.
However, their health conditions deteriorated to critical due to over 75 percent burn injuries.
The Vetlapalem incident occurred on February 28, when 20 workers died while working in the firecracker unit.
Nine others were injured in the massive blast and rushed immediately to Kakinada Government Hospital, where they were undergoing treatment.
Later, eight workers died while undergoing treatment. According to an announcement by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Rs 20 lakh in death compensation was provided to the families of the 20 deceased, with cheques handed over by Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha, Tourism Minister Kandula Durgesh, and others.
The government still needs to provide ex-gratia payments to the family members of eight deceased workers. The family members are waiting for payment of compensation.