Twenty workers were charred to death and 10 others were injured, two of them critically, in a fire at a cracker factory in Kheri village in Balaghat district yesterday afternoon, an official said
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People at the site of the fire crackers factory at Balaghat. Pic/PTI
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Twenty workers were charred to death and 10 others were injured, two of them critically, in a fire at a cracker factory in Kheri village in Balaghat district yesterday afternoon, an official said.
The blaze started around 3 pm in the factory located around 10 km from the district headquarters in the Kotwali police station limits, Additional Director General of Police (Balaghat range) G Janardhan said.
"Twenty workers were killed in the fire and 10 others sustained injuries. Of the injured, eight have been rushed to Nagpur (in Maharashtra) for treatment, while two are being treated at a hospital in the district," he added.
The condition of two of the eight injured, referred to Nagpur, is critical, the official said.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a compensation of R2 lakh each to the next kin of the deceased. The state government would also bear the medical expenses of the injured.
"Exactly what triggered the fire is yet be known. It is possible that someone might have thrown a burning beedi," district collector Bharat Yadav said.
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