Bolangir: One woman was killed and two others injured while making crackers at Bhalera village under Puintala block of the district today.
The deceased was identified as Santoshini Naik (25). The injured workers - both women - were rushed to Bolangir district headquarters hospital and later shifted to the Burla hospital as their condition deteriorated.
The explosion occurred at the house inside the village at 11 am when the three women workers were making crackers. The intensity of the blast was so high that the walls and roof of the house were damaged and the house caught fire.
Immediately, locals swung into action and rescued the three women workers from the house and sent them to the Bolangir hospital. While Naik succumbed to her injuries before she could be treated at the hospital, two others are battling for life at the Burla hospital.
The local fire brigade unit reached the spot after some time and doused the fire and rescued Gitanjali Das, owner of the cracker’s factory, and her husband Om Prakash Das in a critical condition. The local police took the coupl, who were unable to hear anything, to the hospital for treatment.
After detaining the couple initially, the cops arrested them and began questioning them. The questioning was on till the filing of this report.
Sources said the father of Om had a cracker factory, but on his farm land and not in the village. It is not clear how the couple got the licence to run the factory inside the village.
The SDPO told newsmen the factory was running illegally inside the village.