A worker was killed and another left critically injured after an explosion ripped through a licensed firecracker godown at Chinna Anaicut village in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district around 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, police said.

Source: The Hindu

The worker who died was identified as R. Gayathri, 41. Residents rescued the second worker, U. Sangeetha, 45, from the destroyed building and rushed her to the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore, where she remains on ventilator support with severe burns and her condition is critical.

Police said the godown held a huge stock of crackers ahead of Deepavali. The owner, S. Hariprasad, 35, who was outside the facility, escaped with minor injuries and fled the spot. A case has been registered, special teams have been formed to trace him, and the cause of the explosion is yet to be ascertained.

Licence cancelled, surprise checks at nine units

On Thursday, Collector P.S. Leela Alex ordered the cancellation of the unit's licence, which was valid until 2029, after a team of revenue and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board officials found that it had violated prescribed norms, including provisions on firefighting equipment and the prohibition on keeping raw materials with packed firecrackers.

Source: The Hindu

The Collector also formed a special team to conduct surprise checks at the nine licensed firecracker manufacturing units in the district to inspect the safety arrangements for workers. Collector Leela Alex and Superintendent of Police N. U. Sivaraman had visited the blast site on Wednesday.