Four men were charred to death in an explosion at a firecracker unit near Kovilpatti of Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, on Thursday afternoon, February 24. The accident is reported to have occurred in the New Century firecracker unit in Thuraiyoor village near Kovilpatti.

Speaking to TNM, District Fire Officer K Kumar said that four men were charred to death on the spot, and no injuries have been reported. “The chemicals were carried in aluminium buckets, and the bucket must have slipped and fell, causing the blast,” he said.

The deceased have been identified as G Ramar (63) from Eratchi, V Kannan (54) from Naalattinpuram, K Jayaraj (52) from Thottampatti, and K Thangavel (50) from Kumarapuram. The said unit comprises 45 buildings and 130 workers. It is being run by one R Prabhakaran. Koppampatti police are carrying out an investigation into the incident.

The bodies of the four deceased persons have been sent to Kovilpatti Government Hospital for postmortem.

Earlier, three blasts in firecracker units were reported in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu in January alone. One person died and two others suffered serious burn injuries in an accident at Amathur on January 30. Three people had died on the spot and six were injured in an explosion that occurred on January 5; and one of the injured succumbed in hospital later. On January 1, a blast at a firecracker unit near Sivakasi in Virudhunagar district killed four people and injured eight.

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