POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar, Nov 5: Four persons, including three women and a youth, were killed in two separate incidents of firecracker blasts in Jagatsinghpur and Puri districts Thursday, police said.
In the first incident, a woman and her daughter were killed when firecrackers stored in their house at Kanti under Balikuda block in Jagatsinghpur district ahead of Diwali accidentally exploded, inspector-in-charge of Balikuda police station, Balaram Nayak said.
The victims were identified as Bishnupriya Biswal alias Jhunilata, wife of cracker maker Narendra Biswal, and their daughter Subhalakhsmi Biswal. The mishap occurred after a firecracker slipped from Bishnupriya’s hand and exploded when she was carrying a stock of firecrackers to dry them on the roof of their house.
The three-room pucca house was severely damaged under the impact of the explosion, the IIC said, adding the charred bodies of the two were recovered. Other members of the family survived as they were away when the blast took place, the police said.
In the second incident, a 45-year-old woman and a youth were killed in firecracker explosion at Naudikera under Chandanpur police limits in Puri district. The deceased were identified as Satyabhama Nayak, wife of Gobinda Nayak of Naudikera and Ramachandra Sasmal (19) of Tantipatna under Sadar police limits.
According to Chandanpur police station inspector-in-charge Arun Chandra Tripathy, the village is famous for firecrackers where many families earn their livelihood through this season business.
Ramchandra, who was a vegetable vendor, had come to Gobinda’s house to buy firecrackers.After purchasing the crackers, Ramchandra was handing over the money to Satyabhama when the cracker bag from his hand slipped, triggering the explosion.
Fire from the explosion soon engulfed the house. Both were critically injured and shifted to district headquarters hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
