NAMAKKAL: Three persons were killed following a blast at an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit at a residential locality in Goppanampalyam village near Pandamangalam in Namakkal district on Wednesday evening.
The deceased were identified as R Rajasekaran alias Raja (55), his wife Sathya (45) and another woman, P Ponmalar (52) of Pandamangalam.
Revenue department sources said, “Rajasekar owns a cracker shop but his licence was cancelled a few years ago. He also involved in illegally producing country-made crackers in a residential area. Around 4 pm on Wednesday, when the trio was allegedly engaged in making the crackers in first floor of Rajasekaran’s house, a blast occurred. While they were killed on the spot, Rajasekaran’s son Sanjay (22) escaped with minor injuries. By 9.30 pm, three bodies were recovered, even as rain delayed the rescue operation. The blast’s shock waves also damaged doors and windows of four houses in the vicinity.”
The recovered bodies were sent to Namakkal government hospital for postmortem examination. Over 30 firefighters from Namakkal, Tiruchengode and Karur were engaged in the rescue operation.
Tiruchengode RDO Lenin told TNIE , “Three people have died till 8.30 pm. Rajasekaran earlier had a licence for a firecracker shop which was cancelled a few years ago.”
Paramathi Velur police are enquiring.
Namakkal Collector L Madhubalan was unavailable for a comment.