Baripada: A firecracker trader was killed in a powerful explosion at a house where the products were stored for sale at a village in Baisinga area of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district on Saturday.
As per preliminary information, the explosion occurred in the cracker storage at Mahulapatna under Baisinga police station in the district in the afternoon.
The deceased has been identified as Khageswar Palei alias Badal (56) of Mahulapatna village.
Sources said the explosion took place in a makeshift house where firecrackers, gunpowder and other explosive materials were stored.
Khageswar, who was selling the crackers from the same place, died on the spot. The intensity of the explosion was so high that the villagers were in a state of panic.
Hearing the explosion, locals rushed to the spot and found Khageswar’s half-burnt body lying on the ground. The asbestos roof of the temporary house was blown away in the explosion.
A team from Baisinga police station visited the spot and started an investigation. The body has been seized for postmortem.
