Andhra cracker unit blast: Toll rises to 22

Vetlapalem (Andhra Pradesh), March 2 (PTI) The death toll from the cracker unit blast here has reached 22, a district official said on Monday.

"One person died on Sunday night at 9 pm. Death toll rose to 22," Kakinada District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) J Narasimha Nayak told PTI.

As many as 20 people, including nine women, were killed and nine others were critically injured in a powerful blast at a licensed crackers unit at this village in Kakinada district on February 28.

He said, presently, there are four to five critical cases, some of them with up to 90 per cent burns. PTI STH ROH