Vetlapalem (Kakinada): It was a lucky break to drink water that saved Chappala Samuel from certain death when the blast ripped through the firecracker unit at Vetlapalem village in Kakinanda district on Saturday afternoon.While 20 people died on the spot and several others ended in the ICU, Samuel escaped with minor injuries. He believes it was “divine intervention”. On Sunday, the toll rose to 21, with one more person succumbing to injuries in hospital.The blast happened about 15 minutes after Samuel had sat down to work following lunch.Moments before the tragedy – the biggest in Andhra Pradesh in recent memory – the 30-year-old father of three had stood up to drink water when he felt tremors and saw fire. Instincts kicked in and Samuel ran, collapsing in a nearby paddy field where he lay unconscious for nearly half an hour.As flames and smoke billowed out of the firecracker manufacturing unit, and a chaotic aftermath unfolded, many presumed he too was dead.“I ran for my life without even taking a sip. It all happened in minutes. I still cannot comprehend how I survived. It feels like God has pulled me from the jaws of death,” he recalled, speaking from a hospital bed in Samarlakota.Samuel, the sole breadwinner of his family, has been working in firecracker manufacturing for a year, earning Rs 850 a day. Samuel’s younger brother, who was at his bedside in hospital, said he had considered joining the work a week earlier, but is now wary.“This tragedy has shown how narrowly our family was spared a deep loss,” he said.The firecracker unit at Vetlapalem, comprising four sheds and each housing seven to eight workers, was gutted. The explosion was so intense that grass 500 metres away was charred, nearby households shook, and bodies were found scattered in nearby canals and fields. Investigators examined the debris on Sunday to ascertain the cause of the blast.
