VETLAPLEM (KAKINADA) : The firecracker unit explosion in Kakinada left 21 dead and several others battling for life. However, Samuel had a lucky escape. He believes it was “divine intervention”.
The 30-year-old father of three stood up to drink water when he felt tremors and saw fire. He then ran for his life, collapsing in a nearby paddy field where he lay unconscious for half an hour.
As flames and smoke billowed out of the firecracker unit, and a chaotic aftermath unfolded, many presumed he too was dead. “I ran for my life without even taking a sip. It all happened in minutes. I still cannot comprehend how I survived. It feels like God has pulled me from the jaws of death,” the 30-year-old father of three recalled, speaking from a hospital bed in Samarlakota.
Samuel, the sole breadwinner of his family, has been working in firecracker manufacturing for a year, earning ₹850 a day. Samuel’s younger brother, who was at his bedside in hospital, said he had considered joining the work a week earlier, but is now wary.
“This tragedy has shown how narrowly our family was spared a deep loss,” he said. The firecracker unit at Vetlapalem, comprising four sheds and each housing seven to eight workers, was gutted.
The explosion was so intense that grass 500 metres away was charred, nearby households shook, and bodies were found scattered in nearby canals and fields. Investigators examined the debris on Sunday to ascertain the cause of the blast.
J Umamaheswara Rao is an Assistant Editor, at the Times of India-...
Read MoreJ Umamaheswara Rao is an Assistant Editor, at the Times of India-Visakhapatnam. He reports on urban development affairs, civic infrastructure, planning policies, education, health, science, emerging technologies, startups, research, and data-driven stories. He holds postgraduate degrees in journalism & mass communication, business administration, and English, plus several fellowships & short-term courses.
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