The incident of fire accidents are growing day by day. A new one to add to the list, is the one at Sivakasi today that happened around 1:30 P.M. Workers were unloading boxes of firecrackers from a minivan at Raghavendra Agency on the Sivakasi – Virudhunagar road. The fire outbreak was caused by a bundle falling down and getting fired instantly.
It has been reported that the workers rushed to a nearby scan centre and locked themselves in a room to escape the fire. Unfortunately eight of them died of smoke inhalation as the fumes filled up thankfully, 41 others were pulled out of the rear window to safety. The fire safety personnel who rushed to the scene have stated that no burns were suffered by any of the victims.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi chief Anbumani Ramadoss has demanded for an investigation into the fire. He said “How did officials allow a cracker outlet near a scan centre? A sitting judge should probe this“. The authorities, have said the cracker consignment was mishandled by the workers as the administration has been carrying out safety measures to prevent such incidents.
But such accidents continue to be on rise. One of the worst of these was that which occurred on 5th September 2012 in which 38 people were killed and dozens were injured. According to a survey, in the last 12 years, 237 lives in total have been lost in 88 firecracker factories.
