Bengal firecrackers blast: Violent protests break out due to massive explosion

HIGHLIGHTS

• A large quantity of firecrackers went off while being defused in West Bengal's Naihati town.
• An enormous mushroom cloud went up several meters high due to the blast.
• Locals have set two police vehicles on fire and blocked roads protesting against the explosion.

An enormous mushroom cloud went up several meters high as firecrackers, seized by police, went off while being defused on the banks of Ganga in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Thursday, shattering window panes of houses even on the other bank of the river -- Chinsurah in Hooghly district. Official sources said the explosion happened in the district's Naihati town when police were defusing a large quantity of firecrackers they had seized from illegal manufacturing units in the area.

Videos purportedly from the incident are going viral on social media. The authenticity of these videos could not be immediately confirmed.

Angry locals set 3 police vehicles ablaze when CID in Naihati was detonating fireworks and houses around it were damaged due to the loud explosions. Angry over their homes being damaged locals resorted to vandalism. pic.twitter.com/XJNwqqyrEd

— Shabana@ANI (@ShabanaANI2) January 9, 2020

The impact was so huge that windowpanes of houses even in Chinsurah in Hooghly district were shattered, besides damaging several buildings in the Ramghat area of Naihati.

Protesting against the authorities over the explosion, locals set two police vehicles on fire and also blocked some roads in the area, said Dhrubojyoti Dey, deputy commissioner (headquarters) of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate. He said two personnel of Naihati police station were injured as protesters manhandled them.

Last week, four persons, including two women, were killed in an explosion at a fireworks manufacturing factory in the area, following which police started raiding illegal units and seized a huge cache of firecrackers.