THRISSUR: The search operation using cadaver dogs and additional cops for the missing people continued on the second day after the blast at the firecracker making unit at Mundathicode. In all, 103 body parts, shattered during the blast, were recovered, which suggest the need for further search in the region in the coming days.
As planned, two cadaver dogs from K9 Squad of Kerala Police were present for search operation at the blast site on Thursday. Under the leadership of City Police Commissioner Nakul Rajendra Deshmukh, about 60 cops participated in the search operation on Thursday. The officers were divided into teams of three, and lined up back to back doing the search operation scientifically. The planned operation fetched results as they could find body parts including a person’s head 300 m away from the blast site.
“It is estimated that a total of 34 people were working in the firecracker units here at the time of the blast. Four persons are still missing, and all others have been identified. We are compiling the data, and the exact number of how many escaped and how many died can only be revealed after following all procedures. The search operation will continue in the coming days,” said the commissioner.
Meanwhile, the condition of four persons who are in critical care at the Government Medical College Hospital continues to be the same. Among the patients in critical condition, one is the licensee Mundathicode Satheesan.
With 90 per cent burns, Satheesan is on ventilator support, struggling for life. Others in critical care are Babu, 57, Rajesh, 40, and Vishnu, 30. As many as 10 injured people are still under treatment at the medical college hospital.
The results of DNA tests and matching are expected within two days. As per the district administration, one unidentified body and 132 body parts including soft tissues have been kept at the mortuary of forensic department of the medical college. The sample collection for DNA and inquest procedures for all the body parts were completed. Only after receiving the DNA test results that the identity can be confirmed so that mortal remains could be released to the respective person’s family.
Kannan from Erumapetty, Sura and his son from Pattambi, Velayudhan from Mundathicode, Rajan and Manoj from Kundannur, Velayudhan and Kumaran from Vennur, Unnikrishnan from Patharipala, and Pradeesh from Althara who were employed in the unit at the time of blast, have been reported safe at their home along with four women workers.
As the state reels from the Mundathicode blast that claimed 14 lives, a quiet tragedy unfolded at a home in Thrissur on Thursday. Gowri, a stroke survivor who had been bedridden, died without knowing the fate of her son Girish, who remains among the missing in the explosion. Girish had gone to Mundathicode with friends to assist at the firecracker unit as a volunteer of the Thiruvambady Devaswom. Following the blast, he was listed among the missing. While Gowri had been told about the incident, the uncertainty surrounding her son’s whereabouts persisted until her final moments.
