Four dead, five injured in cracker blast in Tamil Nadu's Namakkal

NAMAKKAL: Four people, including three women, were killed and five others sustained injuries in a cracker blast in Mohanur village in Tamil Nadu's Namakkal district in the early hours of Saturday.
The deceased have been identified as Thillaikumar, 43, his wife Priya, 38, his mother Selvi, 65 and his neighbour Periyakkal, 73.

A police constable attached to the Mohanur police station said Thillaikumar was a licensed cracker merchant and owned a cracker shop ‘Thillai Fireworks’, in Mohanur village.
"He stocked the crackers in his house," said the constable, seeking anonymity.
Around 3am on Saturday, the crackers began to explode. "The crackers exploded with a loud noise. Thillaikumar’s house and five houses nearby went up in flames and collapsed," the constable said, adding that all the four, who died, were buried under a pile of debris and died due to injuries they sustained instantly.
Police said one of the woman’s bodies was found hanging from a nearby damaged house, located 50ft from Thillaikumar's house.
Fire and rescue service personnel from Namakkal arrived along with Mohanur police.
They rescued the injured buried under the debris.
"We have rescued five injured so far and there may be more injured under debris,” said the constable.
The injured have been sent to the government hospital in Namakkal town for treatment. Their condition is said to be critical.
A case has been registered and further investigation is under way.