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Fire in India fireworks plant kills 38

2,980 views · Published 7 October 2012 · 0:48 · Indexed 31 October 2026

Channel: News Direct · 2012 · News & Politics

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At least 38 people were killed and more than 70 injured in a fire that levelled an overcrowded fireworks plant in India's Tamil Nadu state on Sept. 5.

Indian police have arrested six people in connection with the accident at the Om Sivasakthi plant in Sivakasi, including the plant's foreman, and are searching for the plant's owner. Sivakasi, about 700 kilometers from Chennai, is the centre of the Indian fireworks industry. An estimated 40,000 people are employed by the city's fireworks industry.

It is believed that a mistake mixing chemicals started a fire in one of the plant's factory's work rooms. The fire blazed through the plant, destroying the factory and 48 sheds in the complex. It took firefighters hours to bring the blaze under control.

Plant and government officials said at least 300 people were inside the plant when the fire broke out, twice the number allowed to work there. Work rooms meant to accommodate four workers were filled with seven to eight people. The plant's production license had been revoke days earlier, and the plant's entire output was stored in a single warehouse, in violation of safety standards.

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