Overview

• The explosion struck a highway-side storeroom at Jiakata-Chhatrapur under Purunakatak police limits around noon, reducing the structure to rubble.
• Boudh Superintendent of Police Rahul Goel identified the deceased as Laxmindra Behera, 40, and said eight others were injured.
• Local police, fire service personnel, ODRAF, a bomb squad, a scientific team, and a dog squad conducted rescue operations and searched the debris.
• Authorities said large quantities of illegal explosive materials were stored at the site, and they launched a hunt for suspects.
• Three additional firecracker godowns in the district were seized and sealed as the cause of the blast remains under investigation.