The Hindu : Front Page : 16 killed as vehicle blows up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 08, 2007
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16 killed as vehicle blows up

A.V. Ragunathan
and K.T. Sangameswaran

It was carrying 200 kg of "slurry explosives," detonators to a quarry

LOOKING FOR CLUES: Police inspecting remnants of the vehicle that was destroyed in an explosion at Sendur on the national highway near Tindivanam on Saturday. — Photo: T. Singaravelou

TINDIVANAM: Sixteen persons, including five women, died when a jeep carrying explosives blew up at Sendur on the Villupuram-Chennai National Highway on Saturday forenoon.

The vehicle was carrying 200 kg of "slurry explosives" and detonators from a licensed godown at Pathirapuliyur, five km from the accident site. Twenty-three persons were admitted to hospitals in Tindivanam and Puducherry with serious burn injuries.

The driver, Babu, stopped the jeep at Sendur when he noticed smoke emanating from the rear of the vehicle. Even as he and another occupant, Shanmugham, were throwing sand at the source of the smoke, there was a huge explosion. Fourteen persons died on the spot.

Among the dead were villagers living nearby, including those who had approached the vehicle to help them. , Two succumbed to burn injuries at JIPMER hospital in Puducherry.

Big impact

The explosion left no trace of the jeep except the engine. Some of the victims were blown to pieces; body parts were strewn for a radius of about 100 metres. A torso could not be identified. A crater, one foot deep and one metre radius, was formed at the spot.

Two passing cars suffered extensive damage. A bicycle was totally burnt and a cooking gas cylinder on its carrier was thrown some distance away. Three tiled houses, four huts and the buildings of a middle school near the scene of the explosion were badly damaged. Tamarind and coconut trees on the sides of the road were burnt. Flag posts and electric posts in the vicinity were twisted out of shape.

Visiting cards bearing the names of certain vegetable dealers and a cook were found scattered. The highway was littered with broken glasses and parts of the automobiles for 100 meters. D. Akilan (25) said his house located across the road shook when the explosion occurred. "It was like an earthquake ," he said. "None of the people who saw the jeep seems to be alive," he said. The jeep bearing the registration number TCQ 3033 is owned by Sekar, a licensed dealer of explosives at Thirukkanur in Puducherry. The vehicle was on its way to a government quarry in Vilangambadi, two km from the accident site.

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