The incident was reported in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district on Thursday.
A man and his son were charred to death in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district on Thursday after the country-made firecrackers they were carrying on a two-wheeler exploded. The incident was reported in the Villupuram district on Thursday when Diwali was being celebrated across the country.
CCTV footage of the incident has since gone viral. It shows a two-wheeler suddenly bursting into flames just as it crossed a police barricade. Another person on a two-wheeler approaching from the wrong side loses control and falls down.
"The boy was seated on two bundles of firecrackers kept tightly tied in the front of the two-wheeler. We believe that friction and pressure led to the explosion," An officer investigating the accident told NDTV. "The sudden appearance of the other two-wheelers from the opposite side could have led to a jerk, causing friction," he added.
Three others, including the person on the two-wheeler coming on the opposite side, suffered injuries.
The father and son who died have been identified as Kalainesan (35), who worked at an automobile parts company, and his son Pradesh (7). They had procured country-made crackers from neighbouring Puducherry, his hometown, and were heading to adjoining Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district to celebrate Diwali at Kalaninesan's mother-in-law's house.
On whether the crackers were from illegal factories, the officer said, "these were made at legal units making country crackers".
The Villupuram district police have registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and rash and negligent driving.