THRISSUR: Seventy-year-old Valsala had never thought about facing such a moment in her life, even though she knew the risks of working as a labourer in a firecracker manufacturing unit. Yet, when the accident happened, her presence of mind helped her to run away from the blast site, holding the hands of her sister Subhadra, 65, as far as she could.
“I heard a loud noise and without thinking for a second, we started running. Our co-worker Bhavani fell in between. But we somehow helped her stand up and run again. We never stopped. Suddenly, a person fell in front of us, with blood all over the body. We dragged him to the road and managed to rescue him. I don’t even know who he was as his face was covered with ash, soil and blood,” said Valsala.
Her sister Subhadra suffered injuries as broken pieces of a Gundu (large cracker) hit the back of her head. But despite all the explosions, the trio, Valsala, Subhadra and Bhavani managed to run away and reach the other part of the road.
“I don’t know how we managed to escape from such an explosion. But the feeling is beyond words when I think about others who worked with us. We four women escaped, but many couldn’t,” said Valsala.
Prema, another woman worker, also escaped from the blast. “We all had finished our work for the day and was about to leave. In between we heard the loud noise followed by the fire. If we were sitting there, doing our work, running away wouldn’t have been so easy,” added Valsala.
Valsala and her sister Subhadra have been working in firecracker making unit for the past three years.