A blast at an alleged illegal firecracker manufacturing unit in Kannauj kills a 55-year-old worker and damages several nearby houses.

An explosion in an alleged illegal firecracker manufacturing unit on Tuesday left a 55-year-old man dead and caused cracks in several nearby houses in Chhibramau area of Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj district, police said.The factory operator has been arrested. The blast occurred at around 11:30 am in Bahwalpur village when a worker, identified as Shiv Kumar Chakravarti, was making firecrackers, they said.

Chakravarti was initially taken to a nearby hospital and later referred to the medical college in Tirwa in a critical condition. He died during treatment, police said. The tin shed of the factory was blown away due to the impact of the explosion. Several houses in the vicinity developed cracks due to the impact, according to locals.
District Magistrate Ashutosh Mohan Agnihotri and Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar inspected the spot. The factory operator, Shiv Kumar Saxena, a native of Banda who had been living in Bahwalpur for about 20 years, has been arrested, officials said.
Police seized five boxes of illegally manufactured firecrackers from the site. According to police, Saxena admitted that illegal firecrackers had also been seized from him last year. Residents claimed that they heard around six explosions during the incident.
The incident comes weeks after 14 people, including many children, were killed in a massive explosion in an illegal firecracker factory that destroyed its building and six other houses in Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district.


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