Chennai: Seven persons, including the owner of the factory died and four others suffered severe injuries in an explosion at a fireworks factory in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore, on Friday morning.

Cuddalore is 190 km from state capital Chennai.

A visual shows the dead bodies lying around the explosion site as people run around crying for help.

“It is a licenced unit near Kattumannarkoil. All of them were workers. Investigation is on into whether they were making country-made bombs and whether they were using only permitted explosives,” Cuddalore Superintendent of Police Sree Abhinav told NDTV.

The fireworks sector missed their peak manufacturing season ahead of Diwali due to the coronavirus lockdown.