Thirty people were injured, seven of them seriously, in the blast at the fireworks unit at Batala in Gurdaspur... Read More

BATALA: Twenty three people were killed and over 30 others injured after a powerful blast ripped apart an unauthorised firecracker factory in Batala, a densely populated residential area in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, on Wednesday.

Apart from one of the factory's owners, most of those killed were workers of the illegal unit, deputy inspector general (border range) SPS Parmar said. A couple of people passing in front of the factory near Hansali Pul on Batala-Jalandhar Road were also killed in the blast that took place at 3.45pm.

Though the exact cause of the explosion was yet to be ascertained, Parmar said a huge cache of firecrackers were stored in the factory, which could have caught fire, leading to the blast.

Nearly a dozen fire tenders, along with police and NDRF teams, were rushed to the spot to rescue the injured. The fire was later under control when reports last came in. The NDRF team was sifting through debris to check if anyone, dead or alive, was buried under the rubble.

The explosion was so strong that it was heard from nearly a kilometre away. Window panes of a shopping mall and houses located in a radius of over 500 metre were shattered. The blast also damaged nearby buildings, including a school and gurdwara. Vehicles parked near the factory were hurled into a nearby nullah due to the intensity of the blast.

Hundreds of students of the nearby St Francis School had a miraculous escape as the blast took place half-anhour after classes ended.

The condition of the seven injured who are in hospital is critical. People in the neighbourhood said they had submitted several complaints to the Batala administration against the illegal firecracker factory in the residential area. Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh announced an exgratia grant of Rs 2 lakh for the kin of each deceased, Rs 50,000 each for the seven severely injured and Rs 25,000 each for those with minor injuries.



In Video: Punjab: Several killed in massive blast at a cracker factory