Khurda: Two children sustained critical burn injuries while another suffered minor burns when crackers placed inside a puja room exploded at Kumarabasta village under Khurda Industrial Estate police station Thursday. Reports said one Tapas Mangaraj’s nephew and niece had visited their uncle’s place on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri. Some crackers had been stored in the puja room for bursting during the festival. However, the crackers went off when the children were playing on the room veranda. Hearing the loud explosion, Mangaraj’s family members rushed to the spot and rescued the children who were found lying in pools of blood. The impact of the explosion was so severe that the doors and other puja articles in the room were completely blown off.
Sources said a 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl sustained severe injuries while another child was also hurt. The injured were initially taken to Khurda district headquarters hospital, but later they were rushed to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar. Although the reasons behind the explosion are yet unclear, Sadar sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Nihar Ranjan Pradhan, IIC Gayatri Mishra and a scientific team have begun an investigation into the incident.