The licence holder of Solai Fireworks unit at Manjalodaipatti village near Sattur in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar district where a blast was reported on Wednesday, January 5, has been arrested on Friday evening. A Poomari, aged 69, was arrested by Elayirampannai police.

Four of her sons - Karuppasamy, Arumugam, Nagendiran and Parmeswaran - are also listed as accused in the case. While Karuppasamy was reportedly killed on the spot, the other three are on the run.

Five persons identified as K Kasi, K Senthilkumar, A Karuppasamy, S Ayyammal and M Muniyasamy died in the accident. J Saraswathi, aged 40, is under treatment.

While three people died in the explosion on the spot, six others were injured and one of the injured succumbed at the hospital. Police sources said that the blast occurred due to a friction caused when chemicals were being mixed.

Earlier this year on January 1, four people died and eight were injured in a fire accident, where the explosion took place at a chemical blending unit in RKVM fireworks unit at Kalathur, near Nathampatti.

Virudhunagar district collector J Meghanath Reddy had held a meeting with the fireworks manufacturers in the wake of the two incidents. Further, according to news reports, special teams formed by the collector would carry out regular inspections of fire cracker units at Vembakottai, Sattur, Sivakasi and Virudhunagar, and they have been asked to submit reports.

On Friday, the collector also handed over cheques worth Rs 16 lakh to the family members of five deceased persons and to those injured from the Chief Minister's Public Relief fund. Family members of the five deceased received Rs 3 lakh each, while one injured person received Rs 1 lakh.