Periyasamy, a resident of Ammapettai village in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu, was inconsolable on Sunday as he came to collect the charred remains of his 23-year-old son, Aathikesavan, who was killed in the cracker godown fire accident at Attibele across the border near Bengaluru on Saturday. “We had big dreams. He dreamt of continuing his education which we couldn’t afford. So he had come here to work and earn some money to pay college fees. But now, both his and my dreams are shattered,” he told The Hindu.
This is not an isolated case. Of the 14 killed in the fire accident, most were in their late teens or early twenties, studying or just completed their undergraduate courses and were working at the firecracker godown-cum-store to make some money to support either their education or their poor struggling-to-meet-the-ends families. The very fact that even graduates were doing menial jobs of loading and unloading and packaging crackers, is probably an indication of their family’s financial troubles.
Vediyappan, the father of another victim, Sachin, 22, shared that his son had recently earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and had started working here just one week before the tragedy occurred. “He had a dream of becoming a police officer,” he added.
Appu, a friend of Antony Paul Raj, 30, whose body is suspected to be among the three unidentified ones found at the accident site, said the latter had a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree and worked as a collection agent at a finance firm earlier, but had to quit over workplace issues. “As friends, we often took up part-time jobs of loading and unloading firecracker boxes that arrived in Hosur from Sivakasi. Antony had been doing this work regularly every year before Deepavali. We were paid based on the number of boxes we handled, earning ₹6 for each box. On Saturday, he did not inform any of us and had come here, only to end up dead,” he said. Antony is survived by his mother and twin brothers.
These individuals had been working for the past 15 days, packaging firecrackers that were sourced from Sivakasi. “This firecracker shop has been in business for the last 10 years and holds a valid licence to operate. Approximately 20 people are employed here for packaging purposes. Typically, firecrackers are transported from Sivakasi loose. These young men were responsible for packaging these crackers into boxes, which included various kinds of crackers. Every year many young boys come to Attibele and work in the firecracker shops before Deepavali, make some money and go back to support their families,” said Nataraj Kumar, the owner of a shop near the accident site.
Meanwhile, some families of the victims found it impossible to identify the bodies as they were charred beyond recognition. Mohan, a relative of one of the victims, said, “It is a horrific experience; the bodies were so badly burnt that we can’t even distinguish them. Everybody is severely charred, leaving us with no choice but to opt for DNA testing to identify and claim the bodies.”
