By Shakir Husain
HYDERABAD, April 22 (Bernama) -- Fourteen people were killed and dozens were injured in an explosion at a fireworks storage facility in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Tuesday.
The firecrackers were being prepared for use in the annual Thrissur Pooram religious festival on April 24.
The blasts and fire at the facility surrounded by lush paddy fields at Mundathikode in the Thrissur district caused panic among residents in the area.
The facility manufactures firecrackers for the Thiruvambadi Krishna Temple, one of the Pooram festival organisers, local media reported.
The reported death toll was 14. Ten of the injured were in the intensive care unit of Thrissur Medical College Hospital, Kerala health minister Veena George told the media.
This was the second major blast involving firecracker manufacturing facilities in southern India within days. Twenty-five workers were killed in an explosion at Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu state on Sunday.
-- BERNAMA
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