When 28-year-old Karpagavalli joined at Sree Mariyammal Firework unit for Rs 200 per day wage, she was determined to lead her life after being left out by her family for getting married against her parents' wish. Karpagavalli was a B.Sc graduate and she joined the firework factory when she was seven months pregnant, expecting her baby in three months, without knowing that her life will come to end in three days. 

On Friday, the third day since she joined the unit, she came for her work but no one in the factory, along with her, had imagined that they were on the verge of devastation. When the workers were handling chemicals for making fancy crackers, they had encountered a fire accident that put them in a trap of no escape and the fire kept spreading to the nearby sheds of the factory and it has caused major destruction within a short span of time. 

What started as a normal day eventually ended with despair, agony, pain, and an alarming call of addressing the mishaps at the firework units across the state. It all happened in minutes and before the rescue teams arrived on the spot, the fire accident had charred major areas of the factory. The factory had the presence of over 70 workers when the fire accident was reported and most of them got trapped within the rings of wire with no way to escape. After dousing the fire, the rescue teams found bodies everywhere. 

The fire accident has claimed at least 19 lives as of Saturday morning while over 30 people are battling for survival. Karpagavalli was one of the 19 fatalities who passed away due to the fire accident, which happened on the third day of her joining. She was killed by the hands of fire along with a seven-month-long fetus and her demise had brought tears and grieve for many across the state. Karpagavalli had succumbed to her injuries while she was taken to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. 

Karpagavalli fell in love with Rajasekhar and she married him last year against the wishes of her parents. Karpagavalli met Rajasekhar when she was working in a hospital. Rajasekhar was working as a construction laborer and after getting married, she had decided to go for work in the firework factory even though she is a graduate in Zoology. According to reports, she decided to take up the job to meet the expenses and joined at Sree Mariyammal firework unit.

She was a native of Nadusurankudi and the news of her demise had put her family members into a deep shock, who are still in despair of losing their daughter along with the fetus. Some of her relatives said that Karpagavalli had done a love marriage as per her wish. The relatives alleged that she had faced torture from her husband and his family and her husband was addicted to alcohol and she had decided to go to work at the firework factory to meet the family expenses. Her husband's family had forced her to go to work despite knowing that she was pregnant. However, on the third day of her joining, she has died due to a fire accident. 

On the other side, Rajasekhar's relatives had denied the allegations and said that they had asked her to stay at home, as she was in her seventh month of pregnancy. According to reports, while Karpagavalli's family is grieving after losing their daughter, 12-year-old Nandhini is grieving for losing both her parents, who died in the fire accident. Nandhini's relatives have demanded the government to extend help to her child. On Saturday, the police said they had identified 13 of the 19 fatalities and the rest are yet to be identified. The injured have been getting treated in government hospitals in Sivakasi and Sattur. 

Over 80% of the injured are still in a critical state and the police had launched the probe which revealed that the owner of the unit had illegally leased it to another person. As both of them are still at large, the police had installed special teams to nab the accused. Sree Mariyammal firework unit is located in Achankulam village at Virudhunagar district and the fire accident had happened at around 1 pm on Friday. Following the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had expressed their condolences to the families of the deceased and offered compensation for the families of both deceased and injured.