54 burnt to death at a fireworks factory in Sivakasi

SIVAKASI/CHENNAI: At least 54 persons were burnt to death and 50 injured on Wednesday in a devastating blaze that raged through a fireworks factory on the outskirts of Sivakasi, the country's cracker manufacturing hub. The toll might go up as several persons were still feared trapped under the debris, police and fire brigade said, as the fire was doused by the evening amid intermittent explosions.

Officials said the dead bodies had been accounted for from hospitals at Sattur (13), Virudhunagar (15), Sivakasi (25) Madurai (1). Two others died on way to a hospital in Madurai. Almost all those killed were workers, with some persons, who rushed inside the factory complex to try and rescue those trapped inside, also falling victim to the blaze, they said.

The tragedy struck when workers were engaged in mixing chemicals for fancy fireworks. The blaze gutted all 48 sheds located in the premises of Om Siva Sakthi Fireworks factory, police and fire officials said. They said the entire production had been stored in a godown against official advice.

The sheds were reduced to ashes in the sprawling complex of the company and the debris had to be cleared to get a clear picture of the actual number of casualties, an official said.

Fire officials said due to a variety of chemicals used in pyrotechnics crackers, there was thick and suffocating smoke, making their task difficult to enter the factory. The smoke could be seen 1.5 km away from the spot. "These are times ahead of Deepavali. So activities go on at breakneck speed in the cracker units," Virudhunagar District Superintendent of Police Najmul Hoda said.

A factory official said 300 persons were at work at the unit at the time of the incident.

Thousands of people thronged the area near the factory to inquire about the fate of their relatives working in the unit.

During the last 12 years, a total of 237 lives have been lost due to accidents in 88 fireworks units located in Sivakasi. The government has tightened its controls on the safety measures installed by the units, said an industry official.

"We have made a study of the accidents that have occurred during the last 12 years. A total of 237 lives have been lost and 200 have been injured in the accidents that occur in the fireworks units," an official of Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers Association told IANS over phone from Sivakasi. In October 2009, 32 people, most of them Deepavali shoppers, were killed at a cracker godown fire in Pallipattu in Tiruvallur district.

Officials said all the victims who perished in the fire had suffered more than 80% burns. The task was now to protect sheds where crackers had been stored in nearby areas, they said.

An angry mob in the area tried to enter the factory premises but were prevented by the police who sealed the area.

Officials attributed the delay in dousing fire to the lack of enough equipment for fire fighters, including mask.