A sudden explosion at a fireworks manufacturing unit in Sivakasi completely gutted three rooms of a godown in the wee hours of Saturday, police said. There, however, was no loss of life as the workers were yet to report for work for the day, police said. This is the second such incident this week coming two days after the blaze at Sengamalapatti fireworks unit that claimed ten lives. Preliminary enquiry by the police and district administration revealed that this private factory in Sengamalapatti employed more workers than the permitted numbers and had indulged in making firecrackers without adhering to safety protocols, a senior police official said. He indicated that appropriate action such as temporary cancellation of licence would be taken in view of violations at the unit. Today's mishap at the Narayanapuram unit occurred at about 6 am and the loud explosion ripped off the roof of the godown and gutted three rooms where the fireworks were stored. Fire tenders were immediatel
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Key items not being produced is likely to further bring it down, say local industry sources
Each of these mishaps snuffed out innocent lives, often due to negligence on the part of the authorities
NEERI has been researching firecracker emissions after the Supreme Court last year asked the central government on the steps it was taking to reduce particulate matter emissions from firecrackers
The incident occurred when a fire broke out while crackers were being offloaded from a van to a cracker shop