Human error suspected to have caused the blasts

Was it an act of desperation fuelled by hunger or anger that claimed 15 lives and critically injured 10 others at Sree Mariyammal Fireworks near here? That is the question investigators were asking late on Friday. As per the statement of Manikandan, a cargo vehicle driver in the unit, one of the workers, identified as Gopal, had suddenly dumped a heap of dried chemicals that triggered the blasts. “It was 1.20 p.m. We all had completed our work,” he said.