Sivakasi Fire Tragedy - Wednesday Sep 05,2012

38 persons, including 2 women, most of them believed to be villagers who rushed to the site of an explosion at 'Om Siva Sakthi Crackers'unit in Mudalipatti village were killed when a large stock of explosives blew up on Wednesday Sep 05,2012 afternoon. Most of those killed in the accident were onlookers who rushed to the site on hearing the first explosion at about 12:30 pm.The first explosion was followed by another which caused the maximum number of deaths.

33 persons were wounded and have been admitted to government hospitals in Virudhunagar district and Madurai.

The fire that broke out was so intense that the factory and 48 sheds in the complex exploded in flames, trapping many in the raging inferno. A factory official said 300 persons were at work at the unit at the time of the accident.All 60 rooms in the factory building were gutted. These included 20 rooms that stored chemicals.

It took 10 fire tenders close to five hours to bring it under control.

Among the 5 people arrested for the fire at Om Sakthi Crackers are 3 contractors, a chemical mixer and the factory lessee Paul Pandi, who according to the police is accused number two in the case. Murugesan, who held the licence to run the factory, had leased it to Mr Pandi, which was illegal .