Five persons were killed and at least four more wounded in an explosion on Friday at a firecracker factory in Naihati area of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal. Fire tenders rushed to the spot soon after the incident, news agencies reported.

The explosion occurred at the firecracker factory in Debok, Naihati, on Friday morning, setting the factory ablaze. The intensity of the explosion was so strong that several houses, in as much as an 8-km radius from the factory, were reportedly shaken from the ground. The roofs on several of these houses were blown away, triggering panic among the locals. 

Fire tenders and the police immediately rushed to the spot as soon as the explosion was reported. However, the factor's owner, Nur Hussain, had escaped by then. Local residents of Debok later told Zee Media that there was a similar explosion in the factory about a year ago, in which five persons had died. But even after that, operations at the illegal firecracker factory were continuing. Locals today demanded that the factory be immediately shut down.

Silence prevailed in the locality following the explosion, owing to the panic caused due to it. According to several locals, the explosion was so severe that windowpanes, even as far as 500 meters away from the factory, were shattered by its noise impact.

Naihati Police has launched an investigation into the incident of the explosion. On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has raised an uproar over the matter. BJP MP Arjun Singh has already demanded that the case be handed over to the central law enforcement agency, the NIA (National Investigation Agency).

Further details are awaited.