The death toll in Sunday’s explosion at an illegal fireworks unit at Sengamalapatti rose to five after the lone injured person, R. Ramachandran, succumbed to burns.

Besides, the doctors at Virudhunagar Government Medical College hospital have established with various mutilated organs that they belonged to three different bodies.

The body parts were collected by the police and firemen from a radius of some 30 metres from the spot of the blast.

Ramachandran’s brother, Ram Prakash, was charred to death on the accident spot. The other three deceased have been identified as S. Innasimuthu, 44, M. Pandithurai, and S. Ayyaparaja, an official source said.

Solatium announced

Condoling their deaths, Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay has announced a solatium of ₹4 lakh to the families of each of the deceased from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund. Mr. Vijay said he had instructed the Virudhunagar Collector to conduct an inspection to find out whether other such illegal fireworks units were functioning in the district.

Published - July 27, 2026 11:01 pm IST