Owner, 2 others booked for cracker unit blast that killed 3

Virudhunagar: The Virudhunagar district police have registered a case against three people including theowner and foreman of a fireworks unit at Oorampatti near Sivakasi, where three people were killed following a blast on Thursday, .The Maraneri police registered the case against owner I Kadarkarai, foreman S Kaliappan of Pallapatti village and M Anand of Sivanthipatti village who had taken four working sheds for lease in the unit.According to police sources, at around 12 noon on Thursday, when the employees were mixing chemicals for manufacture of crackers in one of the working sheds, a blast was triggered due to friction. Due to the impact of the blast, the shed collapsed.S Kumaresan,33, R Sundaraj, 27, and K Ayyammal, 70, died while S Irulayi, 45, who sustained injuries is undergoing treatment at the Sivakasi government hospital.Chief minister M K Stalin had announced a solatium of 3 lakh each to the family members of the deceased and also announced financial aid of 50,000 to the injured woman. On Friday, revenue minister K K S S R Ramachandran in the presence of district collector V P Jeyaseelan handed over the cheques to the family members.The minister also handed over cheque of 3 lakh to the family members of Senthilkumar, 32, who died in a blast while manufacturing crackers illegally by setting up a shed near a cracker shop at Achankulam village near Sattur taluk in the district on May 17.