Road outside cracker unit became waiting place for help

Jaipur: Zebunissa (60) had just served lunch to her husband Fakhruddin and was washing dishes when the first blast rolled through the muddy lanes of Kho Nagoriyan.

The sound was so loud that it seemed to shake the neighbourhood awake. She stepped outside and saw chaos already spilling onto the road.

A man lay on the ground asking for water. Nearby, another, his body blackened by burns, screamed for help.

“Some people brought water. Others started calling for help,” she recalled.

Her home stands only a short distance from the building where, residents allege, firecrackers had been stored for years before Tuesday’s explosion and fire.

The injured workers emerged as best they could. Some stumbled onto the road. Others collapsed where they stood. Neighbours rushed towards them while flames and smoke continued to pour from the building.

One resident said firecrackers were manufactured there and that the unit had been operating for several years.

“I got a call saying there was a fire,” he said. “A water tanker was brought. We took the hose pipe and tried to enter. We managed to pull out three or four people. By the time the ambulances arrived, they were taken to hospital. Others were still trapped inside.”

“The fire spread very quickly. We could not reach everyone. While trying to rescue them, my clothes caught fire and I suffered burns on my leg.”

Yakub, another resident, said an LPG cylinder kept inside the building was removed before it could explode. He estimated that eight to 10 people were inside when the fire broke out.

About 200 metre away, Mohammad Zia watched flames rise above the neighbourhood.

“You could see the fire from a distance and hear the sound of firecrackers exploding,” he said. “People ran towards the building carrying buckets of water.”

He said three or four workers were pulled from the building.

“One person was writhing in pain. Another died at the spot,” he said. “Officials arrived around 40 minutes after the fire started.”

Residents said they knew little about who operated the unit.

“Sometimes there would be the smell of firecrackers,” Yakub said. “But most of the time the building remained locked. Nobody really knew who was running it.”