One person was killed and three others were critically injured after an explosion rocked a firecracker factory in Champahati area of West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on Saturday night, the police said.

Representational image.

“One of the injured, identified as Gourhari Banerjee (60), died in the hospital in the early hours of Sunday. The Baruipur police have registered a suo motu case to find out the cause and whether the factory had a licence,” a local police officer said, requesting anonymity.

The explosion ripped through the factory at Champahati, an old hub of fireworks makers, and set the house on fire.

Locals told the police that all four men were inside the house where illegal crackers were being made.

Two of the injured were admitted at the Baruipur super-speciality hospital and two others were rushed to Kolkata’s Bangur Hospital.

The state government is yet to comment on the development.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced in May 2023 that the state government would set up several clusters on vested land where licenced units will be allowed to produce only green fireworks.

The project was announced days after a powerful explosion inside an illegal factory killed nine people and injured seven at Egra in East Midnapore district.

In March 2023, another explosion claimed three lives at an illegal factory at Maheshtala in South 24 Parganas district.

In August 2023, seven people were killed and several others were injured in an explosion at another illegal factory in the densely populated Duttapukur area of North 24 Parganas.

In December 2021, three people died in a similar incident at Nodakhali in South 24 Parganas. Three died at Bhupatinagar in East Midnapore in December 2022.