10 killed, 15 injured in Indian fireworks factory fire

NEW DELHI — Ten people were killed and 15 were injured in an explosion at a fireworks factory in southern India on Saturday, police said.

The explosion was caused by a fire inside the factory in Virudhunagar district, about 569 kilometers southwest of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state, police officer Feroze Khan Abdullah said, but the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

"Ten workers died in the blast that followed a fire incident in the factory, and five of the 15 injured have been hospitalized."

The victims were working in the factory when the blast occurred in the chemical mixing room.

The fire was soon brought under control, Abdullah said.

Media reports said the explosion severely damaged the manufacturing facility.

Factory accidents are common across the country, with owners often ignoring basic safety requirements and operating without permits.

Eleven laborers were killed in India's capital New Delhi on Friday when fire ripped through a paint factory, following a blast that shook the neighborhood.

Another eight people were killed and 80 injured in central Madhya Pradesh state this month when a blast at a fireworks factory sparked a major fire.

More than 40 people died in a blaze in a factory making school bags and shoes in Delhi in 2019.

One of India's worst fires was at a school in the northern state of Haryana in 1985, when 442 people were killed, 258 of them children.

Agencies - Xinhua