Three dead after illegal firecracker blast in Namakkal home workshop

Three people, including two women, were killed when country-made firecrackers exploded inside a house in Pandamangalam near Paramathi Velur in Namakkal district on Wednesday evening, police told The Hindu.

R. Rajasekaran, 55, ran a firecracker shop in the village and, according to police, illegally manufactured country-made crackers on the first floor of his house while storing stock in a godown at Kabilarmalai. Around 4.30 p.m. the material on the first floor detonated, severely damaging the building. Windows and doors of four neighbouring houses were also damaged.

Rescue under rubble

Rajasekaran and workers were trapped under the debris. His son R. Sanjay, 22, who was on the ground floor, escaped with minor injuries. Fire and Rescue Services teams from Namakkal and neighbouring Karur put out the blaze and began a search that stretched for hours.

By late evening firefighters had recovered the bodies of Rajasekaran, his wife R. Sathya, 45, and worker P. Malar, 42, and sent them to Namakkal Government Hospital for post-mortem. Police sources said it was still unclear how many workers had been on the first floor, and that three more people might remain trapped. Operations were expected to continue towards midnight while the upper floor lay completely destroyed.

Tiruchengode Revenue Divisional Officer Lenin visited the site. District Collector L. Madhubalan was not immediately available for comment when The Hindu called.

A familiar hazard before the festive season

Small, unlicensed firecracker units in residential buildings have caused repeated tragedies across Tamil Nadu, especially in the weeks before Deepavali. State policy has pushed "green" crackers and tighter licensing after Supreme Court orders, but enforcement remains uneven outside the organised Sivakasi belt.

Investigators will have to establish how the unit operated without a licence inside a dwelling, what quantity of explosive composition was present, and whether neighbouring families had complained earlier. For now, the priority remains confirming whether anyone else is still under the rubble — and supporting the families of those already named among the dead.