Tirunelveli: Three children were among five killed when a pile of country-bombs exploded and brought down two houses at Tsunami Colony near Idinthakarai late Tuesday evening, police said.
Idinthakarai has for long been in the news as the epicenter of anti-nuke power plant at nearby Kudankulam. While the local fishermen claim that they make bombs for ‘bomb-fishing’ (stunning the fish by throwing bombs into sea), they have frequently used the explosives against rivals in group clashes.
Police said the pile of bombs had gone up accidentally at about 7.15 pm. Two houses were completely destroyed and some neighbouring houses too suffered damages, they said, adding that the victims were known to hail from the nearby Koothankuli village who shifted to Tsunami Colony after a group clash recently.
Range DIG of police Sumith Saran and Tirunelveli SP Vijendra Bidari rushed to the village even as locals blocked entry for the police force.
Situation got tense as police waited outside and only the fire service vehicles could enter Idinthakarai to remove the dead from the blast debris and rush the injured to the hospitals.
