Six more killed in cracker shop blast in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow, April 24 (IANS) Barely 24 hours after five people were killed in two explosions of stockpiled crackers at two places in Uttar Pradesh, six more people were killed Tuesday when a blast took place at a cracker shop in Shahjahanpur, 175 km from here.

The explosion took place inside a cracker shop in a busy market area at Kaant in Shajahanpur.

Confirming the accident, Shahjahanpur Supreintendent of Police (SP) Shiv Kumar Yadav told IANS that the bodies of the shop owner and a worker have been pulled out of the debris while four more dead have been spotted in the rubble of three other adjoining shops which collapsed under the impact of the massive explosion.

Police said the shop was owned by a license holder seller who was in the business for the last 30 years. A probe was being ordered, they said and added that as of now the priority was to pull out the dead and to ensure that no one was trapped in the debris.

Five people, including three women and two children, were killed Monday in explosions of stockpiled crackers in Hardoi and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.