Rayavaram Blast: Deceased Proprietor Was Pioneer in Field, Winner of Safety Awards
Proprietor and six workers killed; two others critically injured in Kakinada district incident
Kakinada: The toll in the fire cracker blast at Rayavaram village rose to eight on Thursday, as an injured woman Vasamsetty Vijayalakshmi, 50, of Someswaram village died at the GGH in Kakinada.
The condition of another two injured persons – Yamini, 35, of Anaparthi and Lingam Venkata Satyanarayana, 21, of Vedra in Pedapudi mandal of Kakinada district - remained very critical.
The blast occurred on Wednesday. Six workers including the manufacturing unit proprietor Velugubanti Satyanarayana alias Sathibabu died on the spot and another woman died at GGH Kakinada late last night, officials said.
Deceased proprietor Sathibabu’s family had expertise in the manufacture of firecrackers. According to villagers, the cracker manufacturing enterprise in the region was started by the family.
The initiator from the family was V. Veeranna, and his sons Narayanarayana Murthy and Ramakrishna continued with the tradition. However, later, Narayana Murthy's son Sathibabu and Ramakrishna’s son Kotibabu separately organised the manufacturing units. After the death of Kotibabu, his family gave up the business but Sathibabu continued with it.
According to sources, the Rayavaram cracker unit supplies crackers and assigned workers to fire them since 1952 for political processions, Jatharas, wedding parties etc. The unit used to supply crackers to the AICC meeting in 1952, the national sports meet in 1978, the NTR swearing-in ceremony as CM, as also for film festivals and other occasions.
Sathibabu expanded his business over the years and won several safety awards. He also successfully participated in fire cracker competitions.
Anaparthi MLA Nallamilli Ramakrishna Reddy and Mandapeta MLA Vegulla Jogeswara Rao said all help would be rendered to the deceased family members including Sathibabu.
According to their information, when Sathibabu saw the fire, he rushed to the unit to save the lives and alert the workers, but he too was burned alive in the blast.
