The Hindu : Front Page : Two killed in blast at Sholavandan rail station

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Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009
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Two killed in blast at Sholavandan rail station

S. Sundar

10 persons injured; probe suggests crackers as the cause

— Photo: S. James

LOW-INTENSITY BLAST: Police inspecting the site at the Sholavandan Railway Station near Madurai on Tuesday.

MADURAI: Two persons were killed and 10 persons, including three railway personnel and the Station Master, sustained injuries in an explosion on the platform of the Sholavandan railway station near here on Tuesday evening.

The dead were identified as S. Paramasivam (50), a betelnut vendor, and C. Raman, a cracker merchant of Sholavandan.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Madurai Range), P. Balasubramanian, told reporters at the spot that it was a blast of low intensity caused by crackers and could have been caused due to friction.

Ruling out any sabotage by fundamentalists or other groups, he said initial investigation by the bomb detection and disposal squad suggested that the explosion was caused by crackers.

Displaying waste paper and red coloured rolls along with some cotton collected from the site of the explosion, police personnel said they were remnants of crackers.

In the impact of the explosion, a part of the asbestos roof of the platform was ripped off. Glass panes of the luggage-cum-guard van at the tail-end of the Tirunelveli bound Myladuthurai-Erode passenger, were shattered.

Even as initial investigation was on, panic prevailed in the area when someone claimed that there were some explosives left on the platform. Passengers and onlookers ran out. The police recovered a gunny bag of country crackers from the spot.

The General Manager (in-charge) of Southern Railway M.S.Jayanth along with head of other departments left for Sholavandan. A team of officials, led by Divisional Railway Manager (Madurai Division) Anil Singal, reached the site and carried out the clean-up operation along with police personnel.

Southern Railway has announced Rs. 15,000 each to the family members of those killed in the blast. The injured will get Rs 5,000 each.

At Madurai, the arrival and departure of trains were delayed by an hour after the blast.

The injured were identified as U. Arumugam, Sholavandan Station Master; M. Arumugam and Chelladurai, other railway staff; C. Ulaganathan (6), Kaliammal (70), Alagumalai (52), Lokesh (1), Anand, Subramanian (55), Marudappan (55).

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