Devastating Gujarat Blast: 18 Victims Laid to Rest in Madhya Pradesh

In a somber ceremony on Thursday, the remains of 18 individuals killed in a catastrophic explosion at an illegal firecracker warehouse in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district were cremated along the Narmada riverbanks in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. The victims, hailing from Dewas and Harda districts, were among the 21 lives claimed by the Tuesday blast near Deesa, which also left six others injured.

Madhya Pradesh BJP MLA Ashish Govind Sharma, present at the mass cremation in Nemawar town, expressed profound grief over the tragedy. “It’s a heart-wrenching sight,” Sharma told reporters, noting that he had never witnessed such a scene in his lifetime. He prayed to Maa Narmada for protection against future calamities and played a key role in coordinating the transport of the bodies from Gujarat, a process that took 48 hours.

The explosion claimed 10 victims from Sharma’s Khategaon constituency in Dewas and eight from Handia in Harda. Among the deceased were five children, underscoring the scale of the loss. One grieving father from Dholka, Ahmedabad, who works at a plastic factory, lost six family members, including his daughter, son-in-law, and two young grandchildren, in the unlicensed godown’s collapse.

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Sharma pledged ongoing support for the bereaved families, stating, “The government and I stand with them to ensure they don’t suffer further without their breadwinners.” Former minister and senior BJP leader Kamal Patel, also in attendance, echoed this sentiment, calling the incident deeply painful. He affirmed that both the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh’s administration, led by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, alongside the BJP, would provide comprehensive aid, including educational support for the victims’ children.

CM Yadav had previously announced Rs 2 lakh in financial assistance for each deceased victim’s family and Rs 50,000 for those injured. The blast’s ferocity was evident in its aftermath body parts were hurled 200-300 meters, and massive concrete slabs crushed workers and their families living on-site, according to Banaskantha collector Mihir Patel.

Authorities arrested the warehouse owners, Deepak Mohnani and his father Khubchand Mohnani, on Tuesday night. The Gujarat government has since established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate, while forensic teams identified a small container of aluminum powder a firecracker component at the site. The tragedy has cast a spotlight on the dangers of unregulated operations, leaving communities in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh mourning an irreplaceable loss.