VILLUPURAM: Three were killed and 16 hurt when firecrackers being transported by mini-truck exploded near Gingee on Monday. Driver Ilavarsan (29) and aide Saibaba (49) of Puducherry were killed. The third man is unidentified. Gingee police arrested firecracker manufacturer Veerasamy of Puducherry for moving crackers without permissions. Police said six bags of crackers were being moved from Pondy to Tiruvannamalai. Smoke started coming from the mini-truck at Vadavanur-Nangiliondan junction road. When Ilavarasan stopped the truck, locals saw smoke from the loading cabin. As Saibaba and Ilavarasan unloaded the truck, the crackers burst, killing them and injuring 16.
Five shops in a complex nearby were fully damaged and the materials burnt. Roofs and windows of some houses in the vicinity were also damaged. Locals said a TNSTC bus plying between Tindivanam and Gingee had stopped near the spot just before the blast occurred. As villagers warned the bus driver about the crackers, he moved the vehicle away and so when the crackers exploded, just the rear window of the bus was damaged.
Villagers rushed the injured to hospitals for treatment while fire personnel from Gingee reached the spot and wet the remaining crackers. Police from Gingee station retrieved the bodies of Ilavarasan and Saibaba. They also found the body of another man in a bush nearby. But as his face and body were disfigured in the blast, he could not be identified. The three bodies were sent for autopsy. Of the 16 injured, seven were shifted to government medical college hospital in Mundiampakkam and then JIPMER in Puducherry.
“I was riding my bike when I noticed smoke coming out of the mini-lorry. I tried to ride away, but the crackers exploded and a piece of the vehicle hit my leg, injuring me..” said Kalai alias Sivasankaran from Gingee.Police are trying to identify the third deceased.
A similar incident took place at Chendur near Tindivanam on April 7, 2007 when explosives being transported in a vehicle exploded, killing 16 and damaging at least a 100 houses. Three people were convicted in that case and sentenced to 60 years in jail.