Kodala: Seven persons including four siblings sustained critical injuries while three houses collapsed in a major cracker explosion Wednesday at Beruanbadi village under Kodala police limits in Ganjam district, Wednesday. The injured were identified as Bishnu Behera, 28, Tripura Behera, 22, Srihari Behera, 26, Balaram Behera, 31, all sons of Dandapani Behera, their relative Mithun Behera, 22, neighbours Kailash Behera, 53 and his son Kanha Behera. It is suspected that the explosion occurred when the siblings were preparing crackers for marriage ceremonies of Bishnu and Sridhar scheduled for June 26.
All the injured were admitted to Kodala community health centre (CHC) first and later shifted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur after their condition deteriorated.
Five among the injured were stated to have suffered over 50 per cent burn injuries. However, a 28-day old newborn had a close shave as it escaped without any injuries during the blast.
On being informed, Kodala police and fire services personnel rushed to the spot and started an investigation. Purusottampur SDPO Suryamani Pradhan also visited the spot and took stock of the situation.
The intensity of the blast was so huge that villagers, for a moment, could not exactly figure out what happened and started running helter-skelter.
Later, some villagers noticed smoke billowing out of the house of Behera and the burnt pieces of household articles and parts of the asbestos roof blown away by explosion lying scattered in the area.
Some of them mustered courage and rescued all the seven injured persons from inside their houses. Kailash and his son sustained critical injuries after a wall of their house collapsed under the impact of the blast.
Acting on a complaint, Purusottampur Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO), ASP and personnel of the Kodala police station reached the spot and started investigation.
Police are looking into whether safety issues were properly addressed during the making of crackers by the family members.