For many in the Achankulam village at Virudhunagar district, life turned upside down within a few minutes on Friday as a spark lead to a large fire at the Sree Mariyammal firework unit.
Twenty-eight year old Rajasekhar and wife Karpagavalli, had begun their married life together just a few months ago. Karpagavalli was among the 19 people who died in the fire mishap and she was 7 months pregnant at the time of her death. She succumbed to her injuries while being rushed to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.
For Rajasekhar, life is now in a state of limbo as he is yet to come to terms with reality. It was only one year ago that the 28-year-old and Karpagavalli fell in love and got married against the wishes of her parents. She had completed her B.SC in Zoology and was working in a hospital when she had first met Rajasekhar. After nearly a year of sitting at home, she decided to take up a job in order to make ends meet, to supplant Rajasekhar’s income from working as a construction labourer. Friday, according to reports, was only the third day of Karpagavalli working at the fireworks factory.
For Karpagavalli’s family, there is the added shock of losing their child within a year of her being married. “She didn’t know this job of making crackers. She was so qualified. She was used to being at home and studying. After she got married, we don’t know why she decided to take up the job,” a relative of the 19-year-old told local media. The deceased’s parents also believe that she was forced to work in the fireworks factory by her husband’s family.
However, Rajasekhar’s relatives deny these allegations stating that they too had insisted that Karpagavalli stay at home, as she was in her seventh month of pregnancy.
“We had told her not to go out and work now and that it was too risky. However, the child (Karpagavalli) heeded to our words and decided to go ahead and work,” one of Rajasekhar’s relatives told the local media.
For the people of Virudhunagar, the sight of 12-year-old Nandhini who lost both her parents has been the most emotional. Unable to comprehend the loss of her parents, Nandhini, was captured by cameras looking at the mortuary with teary eyes. Her parents--Selvi and Bhagyaraj--who waved her a bye and left to work were no more and the information reached her only through her neighbours. A day after, Nandhini’s relatives said that they have identified her mother but her father's charred body was supposedly kept at another hospital. A relative said, “When we went, Nandhini was crying alone. We rushed to see the bodies but we were only able to see her mother. Her father is kept in another hospital and we were not aware. The government should extend help to the child.”
At 1 pm on Friday, a loud screeching noise from the campus of Sree Mariyammal firework unit in Achankulam village at Virudhunagar made the people around shudder with fear. In the next few moments, anticipating the worst, the public and workers ran towards the place from where the sound was heard. The blast reportedly came from under a tree as a line spark caused the crackers to blow up while the workers were stuffing fancy crackers with chemicals.
However, by the time the villagers reached the spot, four sheds were already on fire and a portion of the building had turned into debris. Fire tenders from three places were rushed for service but the fire engulfed over a dozen people and left many severely injured.
As of Saturday, 19 people succumbed to the blast and over 35 people were injured in the mishap. However, the doctors fear that the deaths may increase since four workers are still under critical condition. The Government Hospitals of Sattur, Sivakasi and Kovilpatti echoed with grieving relatives.
Many workers have told the media that the factory owners were forcing them to produce fire crackers within a week, it would normally take a month to produce the same quantity.
According to reports, Madurai range DIG S Rajendran said that as per initial investigations, the owner of the fire cracket unit had illegally leader it out to another person. He also added that five special teams have been formed to arrest both the owner as well as the lessee. Further, officials from PESO (Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation), revenue department and the state police would check for violations in the factory unit before registering FIRs.
Out of 60 working shed in the factory premises, fifteen had been damaged completely and 13 partially. While nine bodies were retrieved from the site, the others had died while being rushed to various hospitals.