A Palakkad firecracker explosion at an unlicensed manufacturing unit operating from a house in Ottapalam injured a 60-year-old woman and her 35-year-old son on Thursday, destroyed their home and damaged nearby houses, police said.
The injured were identified as Janaki and her son Shajesh, residents of Manikkappara in Ottapalam. They were taken to the Ottapalam taluk hospital with burn injuries and were in stable condition, officials said.
According to officials, the family had been making and selling firecrackers from the small house as a livelihood. A large quantity of ‘olappadakkam’, or palm-leaf crackers, had reportedly been manufactured and stored inside the building when the fire spread to the crackers at around 9 am.
The resulting blast was powerful enough to completely destroy the house, while windowpanes in nearby homes were also shattered, officials said. The incident brought a residential safety risk to police attention only after the explosion.
Police said the firecracker-making unit had been operating for several years without a licence. Officials also said they were unaware of the unit before the accident. The reported storage and manufacture of explosive materials inside a small residence has raised an immediate enforcement concern for the surrounding neighbourhood, where the blast affected nearby properties.
Ottapalam police registered a case on their own under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Indian Explosives Act. An investigation has begun into the operation of the unit, the storage of the crackers and the circumstances in which the fire spread.
The case also places the focus on how unlicensed hazardous activities operating from homes can remain outside routine official detection until an accident occurs. In this incident, the police action followed the blast, while the authorities’ investigation is expected to establish the details of the unit’s operation and the materials stored at the premises.
