Explosion during cracker making near Punjab’s Dera Baba Nanak; 2 women among 7 injured

Seven people sustained injuries when they were trying to make Diwali crackers using the explosive Gandhak-Potash powder at Dharmadad village, 8 km from Dera Baba Nanak township, on Tuesday night.

Police claim all seven have sustained serious injuries and have been admitted to a private hospital in Amritsar. Earlier, they were taken to the Dera Baba Nanak civil hospital from where the doctors, after seeing the serious condition in which they were brought, referred them to the private hospital.

An officer said two of the injured are women.

“They were fiddling with the highly explosive Gandhak-Potash powder while trying to make crackers. The blast was so loud that the window panes of nearby houses were either broken or had developed big cracks. The powder carries a significant risk of accidental explosion when mishandled,” he said.

Dera Baba Nanak SHO Ashok Sharma reached the spot with a team of officers and started investigations.