Death toll in Nayagarh cracker factory explosion mounted to six as four more succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment at the SCB Medical College and Hospital here on Saturday.
While the conditions of three others of the five remaining injured brought here late on Friday night are stated to be “very critical”, one Yogendra Muduli (45) had died within minutes after he was rushed in here last night.
State law Minister Arun Sahu, who represents the victims in the Assembly, had visited the hospital on Friday. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Bhubaneswar on Saturday announced an ex-gratia payment of `2 lakh to the families of the deceased. The State Government is bearing the cost of the treatment of the injured, hospital sources said.
Sources said the four who died in the hospital on Saturday are Prafulla Kumar Sahu (45), Trinath Naik (70), laxmidhar Mohapatra (38) and loknath Mohapatra (50) and all of them belong to the neighbourhood and were workers of the ill-fated cracker factory, which had reportedly a valid licence to prepare crackers.