When tremors suddenly struck Vetlapalem village in Andhra Pradesh’s Kakinada district on Saturday afternoon, locals were initially unsure of what was going on.
“We thought it was an earthquake. Our houses were shaking and the walls developed cracks. Some electric appliances caught fire,” said Veerraju, a resident.
Another resident said that the force of the tremors shattered the windows of her house. “I thought it was a cylinder blast from the neighbouring house,” she said.
Veerraju said that it took at least half an hour before the villagers realised that powerful explosions were repeatedly ripping through the nearby Suryasri Fireworks Centre. “A dense smoke enveloped the area as repeated explosions echoed for several minutes. Only then did we realise it was coming from the cracker unit located at about two kilometres from our place,” he said.
Locals said that the initial explosion was heard nearly five kilometres away from the site. Officials said the impact damaged several houses in the village and the roof of a private school in a neighbouring village.
A witness to the incident said that storage drums filled with chemicals inside the factory exploded and were hurled into nearby fields. “The chemical powder used in the making of firecrackers was stored in drums. They exploded and were thrown into the fields. This has never happened here. We are seeing this for the first time,” he said.
The charred bodies of many victims were dismembered and also flung into the fields. D Naveen, a local Telugu Desam Party leader who rushed to the spot to oversee rescue operations, described the scene. “The body parts are scattered — a head at one place and a torso at another. We are not able to identify our people,” he said.
A 25-year-old woman, who lost her mother, was in a state of shock and disbelief.
“My mother had been working at the unit for the past year. We do not know what exactly happened. We were at home. As soon as we came to know about the explosion, we came here running,” she said.
She said her mother had called her shortly before returning to work. “She told me she had completed her lunch and was going back to work,” she said.
Hours before 40-year-old Nukella Devi from Kathimuru was confirmed to have died in the blasts, her daughter-in-law spoke to reporters near the site. “We don’t know where she is. Police said they were not able to trace her,” she said..
A 40-year-old woman who lost her son recalled his final words.
“He called me during lunch hour. He said he was returning to work in the factory and would call back in the evening. That was the last call. His phone is now switched off,” she said, weeping inconsolably.
Standing before their damaged homes, several villagers echoed one sentence. “This has never happened here.”