The district administration initially reported 24 injured and about 15 feared trapped, while separate local reporting said at least eight people had died. Rescue operations remain under way.
KAUSHAMBI, UTTAR PRADESH:
A powerful explosion ripped through a firecracker-manufacturing unit near the Prayagraj-Kaushambi border on Monday afternoon, injuring at least two dozen people, damaging adjoining houses and leaving an uncertain number of workers trapped.
The factory is located near Manori power house in the Pipri police-station area. Police, fire-service personnel and teams from the nearby Manori Air Force Station joined the rescue operation, officials told Press Trust of India.
Kaushambi District Magistrate Amit Pal said five seriously injured people had been taken to SRN Hospital in Prayagraj. The fire had been brought under control, but teams continued searching the factory and surrounding structures.
The blast caused five or six adjoining houses to collapse, according to the district administration. Officials initially said approximately 15 people were feared trapped and that no death had formally been confirmed at that stage.
A separate Times of India report, citing information from the scene, said at least eight people had died. The district administration had not reconciled that figure by the latest verified update. The death toll should therefore be treated as developing rather than settled.
The discrepancy may reflect different reporting cut-offs during an active rescue operation. Authorities must establish casualties through hospital, police and district records before a definitive figure is published.
The factory’s licence status, permitted inventory, workforce register and compliance with explosives and fire-safety regulations were not immediately clear. Investigators will also need to determine whether adjacent residential structures fell within the prescribed safety perimeter.
The priorities are rescuing people who may remain trapped, confirming casualties, stabilising damaged buildings and preventing secondary explosions from unexploded material. The cause should not be inferred until forensic and fire-service examinations are completed.
