A two-storied house allegedly housing an illegal fireworks factory collapsed in an explosion at Kolaghat in East Midnapore late on Sunday night.

Several other houses in the vicinity were also damaged but there are no reports of any casualty.

According to police, around 11pm on Sunday, the entire area was shaken by the sound of an explosion at the house of Anand Maiti in Payag village. The entire house was engulfed in flames. The family members rushed out of the house.

On receiving information, two fire engines reached the spot and the flames were extinguished.

Villagers said there were several illegal fireworks factories in Payag village under the jurisdiction of Kolaghat police station. For years, the illegal business was booming and villagers alleged that it happened with the patronage of police and politicians.

On May 16 last year, there was an explosion in an illegal fireworks factory at Khadikul village of Egra in East Midnapore. At least 11 people had died.

A year after that incident, there was an explosion at another illegal factory in East Midnapore.

The administration was shaken by the explosion at the illegal fireworks factory in Khadikul. But nothing seemed to have happened as the district was shaken by another explosion on Sunday night.

An environmental activist said between 2009 and 2024 no less than 27 such explosions had rocked the state but the government did precious little to crack down on such illegal factories.

BJP worker dead

BJP worker Tapan Dhali, 45, died on Sunday after he was injured in a bomb blast in Nandigram on June 5, the day after the results of the Lok Sabha polls.

Tapan Dhali, a resident of Jahanabad village in Khejuri, was seriously injured when a bomb exploded at the house of a BJP worker in Nandigram. He was admitted to Tamluk Medical College Hospital since he suffered burns in the fire. He died on Sunday.