4 min readKarnatakaOct 9, 2023 06:56 AM IST
First published on: Oct 8, 2023 at 09:09 PM IST
A teary-eyed Appu, a friend of Antony Raj, 24, who died in the recent fire mishap at a cracker shop on the outskirts of Bengaluru, said, “Although he (Raj) was a BBA graduate, he did odd jobs to run the family.”
On Sunday, Raj’s family and friends were hoping against hope that he would survive the fire and his body would not be one among those lined up for identification at the Oxford Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre in Attibele. But the dreadful news came with one family member finally identifying Raj’s body.
Appu said, “Antony Raj is from a typical middle-class family from Dharmapuri. He has a BBA degree. He used to work as a collection agent at a finance company in Hosur. However, due to some issues at the workplace, he quit his job recently. We used to take up part-time jobs of loading and unloading firecracker boxes as soon as they came to Hosur from Sivakasi. Antony has been doing this work regularly every year, ahead of Deepavali. We were paid Rs 6 for each box. However, last evening without telling anybody at home, he left for the loading and unloading work and the unfortunate incident took place. He is survived by his homemaker mother and two twin brothers.”
On Saturday around 3.30 pm, a massive fire was reported at Balaji Crackers shop which is only a few yards from the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. More than 10 fire tenders from various parts of Bengaluru rushed to douse the fire but it was too late. It took more than 12 hours for fire personnel to retrieve all bodies from a 4,000 sq. feet area where the crackers were stored. According to official sources, 14 people were charred to death.
A fire officer said, “The last body was recovered around 1.30 am Sunday. Safety measures were not put in place at the store, which resulted in more damages.”
While the police are yet to ascertain the exact reason for the fire, a preliminary probe suggested that a short-circuit in a wire that passed in front of the shop may have led to the fire. When the mishap took place, some workers were unloading firecrackers from a truck and many were sitting inside the store packing ‘gift boxes’. A police officer said that crackers worth Rs 5 crore got completely gutted in the fire.
It took the police several hours to identify the bodies before handing them over to the family members. A doctor at Oxford Hospital said, “The bodies were burnt in such a way that it was hard to identify anyone.” All 14 dead were engaged in repacking. The deceased have been identified as Prakash, 20, a resident of Neepathurai village; Vettappan, 25, Aathikesavan, 23, Vijayaraghavan, 20, Ilambaruthi, 19, Akash, 23, Giri, 22, Sachin, 22, Santosh, 30, all residents of Ammapettai village; and Prabhakaran, 17, Nitish, 22, Vasantharaj, 23, Appas, 23, and Antony Raj, 24, hailing from Kallakurichi district in Tamil Nadu.
Appas was an ITI graduate but did not get any permanent job. He landed in Chennai and worked as a labourer before coming to Attibele 15 days ago. He is the second son of Shankar and Amudha. “We did not want him to come here but he wanted to do something on his own. A bunch of his friends left the town and he went with them. His body is so burnt that I can’t even identify it,” said a sobbing Shankar.
Arts graduate Aathikesavan wanted to save money for his higher studies but his life ended tragically. He joined the cracker shop a few days ago.
His father Periyasamy said, “He wanted to study and he came to work here so that he could get some money. He wanted to go to college. Not just dreams and hopes but our lives have come crashing down.”
a massive fire was reported at Balaji Crackers shop which is only a few yards from the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. (Express Photo) 
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