At least five persons were killed when a fire ripped through a firecracker shop in Sankarapuram town in Kallakurichi district on Tuesday evening, police said.
Police said five persons who were inside the shop selling firecrackers for Deepavali were charred to death in the incident.
Videos shot at the spot doing the rounds on social media showed a thick smoke billowed out of the shop.
Kallakurichi district collector P N Sridhar said efforts to put out the fire was on. In Chennai, Chief Minister M K Stalin condoled the death of the five persons in the fire accident. He also announced a solatium of Rs five lakh each to the kin of the victims.
Firecracker shops have mushroomed across the state as Deepavali approaches. However, a majority of these shops do not follow the rules laid out by the government for selling crackers.
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