Cracker-unit blast kills six in Vizag district

Payakaraopet: In a tragic mishap, six workers were charred to death beyond recognition and nine others were critically injured in the flames engulfed a private cracker manufacturing unit on the outskirts of Gokulapadu village of S Rayavaram mandal in Visakhapatnam district on Sunday.The fire broke out at 4.30 pm in the cracker manufacturing unit and the reason was not yet established.

There were 15 workers carrying out their duties at the time of mishap. The dead were identified as Vaddadi, 40, alias K Viswanatham of Somudevapalli village, Lakshmi, 30, of Gokulapadu, N Durga, (male), 35, of Gokulapadu, Lingampalli Seshamma, 45, Lingampalli Krishnamma, 40, and IK Durga (male) 20. The entire unit area was filled with the family members, relatives and villagers making enquiries.

The impact of the explosion was so high that the roof of the shed was strewn all over and all the brick-made walls were collapsed and with the explosion sound, farmers working nearby rushed to the spot and undertook rescue operations. On receipt of information, the fire tender from Narsipatnam and local police also arrived at the scene.

The injured were rushed to the government hospital at Nakkapalli, where their condition was stated to be critical. The owner of the fireworks unit is at large .Anakapalli MP Avanthi Srinivasa Rao, who visited the explosion site, asked the revenue, police and fire officials to initiate stringent action against the erring persons. He also visited the injured people at the hospital. He declared an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of deceased families.