Two die in cracker factory blast

SATTUR: Two workers were killed in an explosion that took place in a fireworks factory near Sattur on Monday and another woman worker was injured. Kesavan (35), son of Muthiah of Elayirampannai near Sattur in Virudhunagar district is running a fireworks factory at Vallampatti.More than 200 workers were engaged in manufacturing fireworks in 50 rooms. The workers were mixing chemicals in some of the rooms when the chemicals caught fire due to friction. When the fire spread to other rooms, the manufactured crackers started exploding and two rooms were razed to the ground. In the explosion two other rooms were also damaged.Mani (35), son of Mariappan of Vallampatti and Anthoniraj (28), son of Pandi were charred to death. Aswini (22), daughter of Karuppiah of Paraipatti sustained burn injuries.Fire tenders from Sattur and Virudhunagar which rushed to the village managed to put out the fire. The bodies of the two workers were sent to Sattur hospital for postmortem, while Aswini was admitted to a private hospital in Elayirampannai.Sattur DSP Chinniah, tahsildar Balasubramanian, Joint Director of Fire Service Shahul Hameed and others visited the factory. Elayirampannai police have registered a case against Gopalsamy, supervisor of the factory.