DHARMAPURI: Two women were killed and a man was injured at an explosion at a firecracker unit at Nagadasampatti village near Papparapatti on Thursday morning. The deceased, identified as K Muniammal (65) and B Palaniammal (50), were among the 20 employees at the unit owned by R Saravanan.
The staff at the licensed unit were responsible for mixing gunpowder and creating fireworks using paper. On Thursday, Muniammal, Palaniammal, and P Sivalingam (52) arrived at work early. Soon after, however, the explosion occurred, killing the two women and leaving Sivalingam grievously injured. This was the first such incident of an explosion in the area.
Indur Police and the Pennagaram fire department recovered the remains of the women and sent them to the Pennagaram Government Headquarters Hospital for postmortem. Sivalingam was rushed to the Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital. His condition remains critical.
Sources at the fire department said that it is likely that Palaniammal and Muniammal were the closest to site of explosion. “We believe there was an accident while they were mixing the chemicals. We are investigating the matter,” they said. Police also said a probe is on. Chief Minister MK Stalin condoled the deaths and announced a solatium of Rs 3 lakh each to Muniammal and Palaniammal’s families, and Rs 1 lakh aid to Sivalingam.