At least four persons, including a woman and her daughter, were killed in two separate blasts at their houses packed with crackers and other explosive substances in Jagatsinghpur and Puri districts on Thursday.
According to reports, the woman-daughter duo was charred to death after an explosion while they were engaged in cracker manufacturing at their house in Kanti village under the Balikuda police limits of Jagatsinghpur district.
The deceased were identified as Jhansirani Biswal (50) and Jharana (18). However, Jhansirani’s husband Nagendra had a narrow escape from the tragedy.
Sources said the mishap occurred in the wee hours of Thursday while the duo was engaged in making crackers at their house allegedly illegally. Several rooms in the house were reduced to ashes under the impact of the explosion.
The Balikuda police reached the spot and started investigation into the incident.
“We are investigating whether they possessed a licence to make crackers. Now, we will keep a strict vigil on illegal cracker manufacturing units,” said Balikuda police station IIC Balaram Nayak.
In the other similar incident, two persons were also killed at Naudikera village under the Bramhagiri police station in Puri district in a cracker explosion.
The deceased were identified as Satyabhama Nayak and Ramachandra Sasmal.
According to Brahmagiri police station IIC Arun Tripathy, the mishap occurred when Ramachandra had come to the house of Satyabhama where crackers were being made to take crackers.
While Satyabhama died on the spot, Ramachandra died at the District Headquarters Hospital.