In Tamil Nadu, six people were killed in a blast at a workshop manufacturing fireworks at Mannarkudi in Tiruvarur district. The unit has been functioning for long, making a special kind of fireworks for use mostly in temples and during special occasions, The explosion was triggered when the workers were handling raw materials to make crackers in the unit, he said. The owner of the unit was among the deceased.

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According to police, the cracker unit was functioning from a building located in Mannargudi. The impact of the blast was so huge that the building was razed to the ground and the bodies of the victims were blown to bits. "While four of them were flung outside under the impact of the explosion, two got trapped under the rubble and all of them died," a rescue official said. The deceased were identified as Suresh, Arivu, Veeraiyan, Babu, Narayanan, and Singaravelu. Singaravelu was an AIADMK functionary and owner of the building.

Several teams of fire and rescue personnel from here and nearby areas were pressed into service to rescue the victims and clear the rubble. The two seriously injured workers were admitted to a nearby government medical college hospital, while the other man was discharged after treatment, he said. Further inquiries are on. 

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