Guj. firecracker factory blast: Family of six wiped out, kin leave with bodies

Hearses carrying the remains of 21 persons who died following a at an illegal warehouse near Deesa in 's Banaskantha district began to leave for their villages in Madhya Pradesh early on Wednesday, 2 April.

The deceased, which included five children, hailed from the two villages of Sandalpur and Hadia in Dewas and Harda districts of , officials said.

Chandrasinh Nayak, who works in a plastic factory at Dholka in Ahmedabad, lost his daughter, her husband, grandchildren Radha (3) and Abhishek (10), and two other members of his son-in-law's family in Tuesday morning's tragedy at the Deepak Traders godown, which had no valid license to store firecrackers.

While his daughter and her husband started working at the warehouse recently, her mother-in-law had worked there before, said Nayak who was barely managing to control his tears.

Officials at the site of the tragedy

"Ten (of the deceased) people were from Sandalpur, and 11 from Hadia," he said.

Rajesh Nayak, a survivor, said the explosion took place moments after the workers reached the warehouse around 9.45 am on Tuesday.

"Ambulances carrying the bodies of the deceased have started leaving for their villages. So far, ten ambulances with two caskets each have left," inspector V.G. Prajapati of Deesa (rural) police station said. The hearses had police vehicles escorting them.

Madhya Pradesh minister Nagar Singh Chauhan, who reached Deesa along with Gujarat industries minister Balwantsinh Rajput, said the governments of both states are providing relief to the victims and their families.

"This is a very sad incident, and the entire country stands with the affected families... People from MP visit Gujarat in search of jobs and vice versa. The government has taken this incident very seriously," Chouhan said. He had a discussion with Banaskantha collector Mihir Patel, and anyone found responsible for the tragedy would not be spared, he added.

According to Rajesh Nayak, around two dozen people were working at the warehouse. He himself moved to Deesa after a firecracker factory in Madhya Pradesh where he was working had an explosion, he said. Nayak lost a younger brother, his aunt and three children in Tuesday's blast.

Police on Tuesday night arrested warehouse owners Deepak Mohnani and his father Khubchand Mohnani.

The explosion flattened the godown, located in an industrial area near Deesa town, around 30 km from the Banaskantha district headquarters. It was so powerful that it sent body parts flying 200-300 m away. Family members of some of the workers who stayed on the premises were crushed to death after heavy chunks of the RCC roof slab fell on them, collector Mihir Patel said.

Deesa sub-divisional magistrate Neha Panchal had said on Tuesday that the godown had initially obtained a licence for storing firecrackers, but it was not renewed after it expired on 31 December. "After authorities found that the unit lacked proper facilities, the renewal process was put on hold," Panchal said. The licence was only meant for storing firecrackers. "However, it seems they were prima facie illegally manufacturing firecrackers," the official said.