In a shocking incident that occurred days ahead of the Diwali festive season, five women have died and three were severely injured after an explosion at a firecracker factory in Madurai district on Friday. The incident happened at around 3 pm while the employees of the unit were manufacturing crackers. The authorities had recovered the body of the deceased and rushed the injured to the hospitals. 

According to reports, the factory, Rajalakshmi fireworks, is located at the village of Sengulam, which is around 65 kilometers from Madurai city. The cracker unit is owned by Shanmugaraj and it has been leashed by Alagarsamy. It has been reported that the explosion could have caused by the violation in manufacturing the crackers with the view of meeting the market ahead of the Diwali festival. 

The reports say that the cracker factory was licensed by the district revenue officer and as per the license, the unit must produce only cracker varieties like walas, flower pots, and chakkras. However, the factory had illegally manufacturing fancy varieties of crackers ahead of the festive season by violating the license.

Alagarsamy has a license for the factory till 2022 and on Friday, nearly 35 workers were manufacturing crackers and while some workers were working inside the factory, some were manufacturing crackers by sitting under trees. The factory had witnessed the explosion when the workers were handling a chemical substance required for manufacturing the fancy crackers. 

The blast is said to have happened due to the abrasion of the chemicals in the factory. The fire started spreading around the premises and the explosion had majorly collapsed the unit and killed five women while three other women were severely injured. Following the development, fire and rescue personnel from Virudhunagar and Tirumangalam fire stations arrived at the spot and extinguished the fire and the operation had taken nearly one hour. 

T. Kallupatti police department has been carrying out investigations into the explosion. Alagarsamy has been absconding and the police are yet to file a case against him. According to reports, five deceased women were identified as Veluthai (45) of Peraiyur, Lakshmi (40) of Silarpatti, Ayyammal (65) of Kadaneri, Suruliammal (50) of Govindanallur while one more woman is yet to be identified. 

Three injured include Sundaramoorthy (39) of Venkatachalapuram, P Lakhsmi (45) of Kadaneri, and Mahalakshmi (45) of Kadaneri were initially taken to the Virudhunagar government hospital, and later, they were taken to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai for further treatments. After learning the development, state political leaders have been expressing their condolences to the families of the victims. 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had expressed his condolences and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh each to the injured. Deputy Chief Minister had paid tribute to the deceased. DMK President MK Stalin had also expressed his condolences and urged the Chief Minister to ensure the safety of all the factories engaged in manufacturing the crackers for the Diwali season.