DHARMAPURI: A devastating explosion at a firecracker godown in Chinnamurukkampatty, near Kambainallur in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri district, claimed the lives of three women on Monday.
The victims, identified as V Tirumalar (38), M Shenbagam (35), and T Manju (33)—all residents of Boomisamudram village—were working inside the godown when the blast occurred around 2 p.m. They died on the spot.
The godown, owned by Chinnadurai of Rasipuram in Namakkal district, was engulfed in flames following the explosion. Local residents alerted fire and rescue services, who rushed to the scene and extinguished the fire. The victims’ bodies were sent to a government hospital for postmortem examination.
Dharmapuri District Collector R Sadheesh and SP S S Maheshwaran visited the site, while forensic teams gathered evidence to determine the cause of the explosion. Kambainallur police have registered a case.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin announced ₹4 lakh compensation for each victim’s family. PMK president and Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss expressed condolences and attributed the tragedy to safety lapses. He urged the government to conduct stricter safety audits at firecracker godowns and demanded an increased compensation of ₹25 lakh for each affected family.
Local villagers revealed that the firecracker unit had been operating in a residential area for over two decades, despite a case being filed in the Madras High Court five years ago seeking its removal. They also claimed that multiple petitions to the Tamil Nadu government and Dharmapuri district administration over the past decade had gone unanswered.
Collector Sadheesh assured residents that the matter would be addressed.
