M A I N   N E W S

25 die in TN factory blast

Katpadi, August 16
Twentyfive persons were charred to death and three others injured in a devastating explosion at the Tamil Nadu Explosives Limited (TEL), 5 km from here in Vellore district of north Tamil Nadu, this morning.

While Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha, in a statement issued in Chennai, said that 25 persons were killed and announced a solatium of Rs 50,000 each to the next of kin of the deceased, a TEL official told UNI that only 21 persons, including a woman, were killed and six others injured.

The explosion with a deafening noise took place at the detonator crisping unit where a highly sensitive explosive device is manufactured.

Mr Annamalai, TEL General Manager, said the blast could have been caused by a human error. The explosives handled in the unit were so sensitive that it could explode even if they were rubbed with hand or dropped on the floor, he said.

The entire concrete building, housing the unit, was razed to the ground under the impact of the massive blast. All 24 workers, who were present at the time of the mishap, got buried under the debris. While 20 of the 24 perished in the blast, one of the three woman workers, who was near the adjacent unit and suffered splinter injuries, died at Christian Medical College Hospital.

About 100 fire service personnel, drawn from six centres, who were pressed into rescue operations, had retrieved 12 bodies from the debris so far.

Rescue operation and retrieval of bodies from the debris had been hampered as live detonators were buried in the debris.

The detonators comprised highly sensitive penta erythrol tetra toluene (PETT), lead azide and lead stifatelals.

Mr Annamalai said an expert committee would soon visit the accident site to undertake a detailed study on various factors that caused the blast.

As the news of the explosion spread, anxious relatives of the workers gathered near the unit, located in the Panamadangi Reserve Forest area, near here. UNI