VELLORE: In a gruesome death, two youths were blown into pieces in an explosion at an illegal country bomb manufacturing unit near Jolarpettai in the district on Tuesday.
The deceased were identified as Gandhi (29) and Ponnurangam (35), natives of Adiyathur village in Mookanur panchayat. Both victims were married and have two children each aged between six and ten.
According to police, they had been working at the country bomb manufacturing unit owned by one Raja (42) hailing from the same village. The unit has been functioning illegally for the past 5 years, police said.
Locals said they heard a deafening sound from the country bomb factory at around 1 pm. The noise was so ear-splitting that it was heard up to five km radius and the impact was felt by people in about six villages, they said.
By the time they rushed to the spot, the duo, who were reportedly at work, were thrown off and their bodies got ripped into pieces. The entire unit was also destroyed in the fire
suspected to have been triggered by friction caused by chemicals.
It was only on the information of the villagers, the Jolarpettai police went to the place. They took pains to rummage the unit that was reduced to ashes and collect the body parts of the two victims, which they later sent to the government hospital in Tirupattur.
Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the unit licensed only for distributing crackers had been stocking huge quantity of chemicals used for making explosives.
Superintendent of Police P Pakalavan told Express that a probe has been ordered to trace the sources from where the chemicals used for manufacturing country bombs were received by the owner of the unit.
Deputy Inspector General R Tamil Chandran too inspected the spot along with the Superintendent of Police.