Kakinada blast: cracker unit owners employed workers, stored explosives beyond permissible level to supply for weddings, local festival

The owners of Sri Surya firecrackers unit, Adabala Arjun and Adabala Veerababu, is believed to have engaged 31 workers, against the eight permitted by the Labour Department to operate the unit, leading to the loss of 21 lives in the blast at the unit at Vetlapalem village in Kakinada district on Saturday. 

Of the ten survivors, only two workers are out of danger; the rest of them are battling for life with more than 70% burns. Adabala Srinivasa Rao (55) of Vetlapalem village, father of Arjun and Veerababu, was also killed in the blast. He had been asked by his sons to monitor the work at the unit until they returned after lunch break on Saturday. 

Speaking to The Hindu, Minister for Labour Vasamsetty Subhash said: “The owner of Sri Surya fireworks is authorised to engage only eight workers and store a maximum of 15 kg of explosives at the unit. However, he engaged 31 workers to supply crackers for a local festival and three weddings.”

Arjun and Veerababu owned three firecracker units: two in Vetlapalem, including Sri Surya firecracker unit, and one in Rayavaram Mandalam in Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district, in which six workers were burnt in a blast in October 2025, alleged Mr. Subhash.

Mr. Subhash added that there was no scientific clarity on the exact quantity of crackers that exploded and the exact reason that triggered the blast. The Forensic team has rushed to the site to collect the evidence to establish the nature and cause of the blast.

Distribution of ex gratia

Minister for Home Vangalapudi Anitha, Mr. Subhash, Minister for Tourism Kandula Durgesh and Kakinada MP Tangella Uday Srinivas on Sunday handed over cheques for ₹20 lakh in ex gratia to each of the 20 families of those who were burnt alive in the blast. 

Death toll in the blast touched 21 after a 35-year-old worker, Vemagiri Lovaraju of Samarlakota town, succumbed to burns at the Government General Hospital, Kakinada on Sunday. The post-mortem examination was conducted by early morning at the Community Health Centre in Samarlakota town. The family members of the deceased performed his last rites the same day.

The officials concerned remained tight-lipped about the incident. When contacted on Sunday, East Godavari Collector Sagili Shan Mohan and Superintendent of Police G. Bindu Madhav declined to speak on the explosive material used in the firecracker unit and on the constitution of a committee to probe the blast. A senior police official associated with the probe into the blast told The Hindu that a probe had begun and the accused were being questioned.