Man, 23, dies in cracker unit blast; toll up to 3 in earlier blast

Virudhunagar: A man died in a blast while he was manufacturing crackers illegally in a motor room in Virudhunagar district on Thursday.The deceased has been identified as Ajith, 23, of Meenampatti village near Sattur. Police received information about a blast in an unused motor room in a secluded place near the Sattur-Kovilpatti highway during the early hours of Thursday. When the personnel went there, they found Ajith’s body lying in the room. Police recovered the body and sent it to the Sattur government hospital for postmortem. A criminal case has been registered against the owner of the property following the incident. The Sattur taluk police have registered a case and were conducting further investigations.Meanwhile, the death toll in Wednesday’s blast in a fireworks manufacturing unit in Virudhunagar district rose to three on Thursday.S Saravanakumar, 24, of Kanniseripudur, who suffered 90% burn injuries in this accident, died in Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai on Thursday morning. Two workers, identified as P Kaliraj,20, of Kanniseripudur and K Veerakumar,50, of Mudalipatti, died on the spot on Wednesday. S Sundaramoorthy, 17, of Inamreddiyapatti, who sustained 70% burn injuries, is undergoing treatment in GRH.Virudhunagar district collector V P Jeyaseelan on Thursday, warned that criminal action would be initiated against people manufacturing crackers and cracker fuses illegally. Criminal action would also be initiated against owners of properties where crackers are manufactured illegally. He said that the fireworks units should only be run by the licence holder and the units should not be let out for sub-lease. If the officials find out that the units are let out, then criminal action would be initiated against the licence holder and the sub-lessee. Apart from permanently cancelling the licence, a permanent ban would be imposed on the licence holder and sub-lessee from obtaining licence for fireworks manufacture, warned the collector.