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Four die, five injured in firecracker explosion in Namakkal, TN

Four people including an elderly woman died in the early hours of Saturday after firecrackers stored in their house exploded.

Chennai, Dec 31 (BPNS)

Four people including an elderly woman died in the early hours of Saturday after firecrackers stored in their house exploded. Five others were seriously injured in the explosion and burn injuries. Police said that those killed included the fire cracker unit owner, his wife, his mother and an elderly woman from the nieghbourhood.

The deceased are Thilaikumar (43), his wife Priya (35), his mother Selvi (65) and an elderly woman, Periyakkal (73)

The injured are admitted at the Government Namakkal Medical college and the condition of three persons is said to be critical.

 Namakkal district police are investigating the cause of the explosion. It may be noted that the Namakkal, Sivakasi, and Virudhunagar areas of Tamil Nadu produce almost seventy-five percent of the firecrackers manufactured in the country.

The firecrackers, according to the Police were stored in the house for the New Year celebrations and caught fire accidentally leading to explosions and thereby killing three people including an elderly woman.

The firecracker industry of Tamil Nadu fetches anywhere between 4000 to 5000 crore rupees annually with more than a lakh directly employed and around three lakh people indirectly employed in the business.