On the evening of Thursday 15 October, a two-storey building in Paigambarpur, in the Sarnath area of Varanasi, collapsed after a powerful explosion. Police say the house was being used as an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit. Three people were pulled from the rubble and taken to hospital, while disaster response teams searched the debris for anyone still trapped.

The Varanasi blast came just six weeks after a far deadlier one: on 31 August, at least 11 people were killed in an explosion at a firecracker factory in Kaushambi district. And with Diwali — the heaviest firecracker fortnight of the Indian calendar — falling on 8 November this year, the season when fireworks injure the most people is only days away. This is a safety guide for that season: what the two blasts have in common, how fireworks injure people, and the rules that already exist but are not being followed.

What happened in Varanasi on 15 October

The Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported the explosion at around 5 p.m. Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Pandey told IANS that police found firecrackers scattered around the collapsed building and suspected a firecracker explosion; two people were injured and a woman was feared trapped under the debris. ANI later reported: three people were pulled out and hospitalised, and NDRF and SDRF teams carried out an initial search indicating no one else remained trapped, with a precautionary re-check ordered. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to speed up relief work and ensure proper medical treatment for the injured. Police are still verifying the illegal-manufacture reports at the site — the exact trigger is unconfirmed.

Eleven dead in Kaushambi in August

The Kaushambi blast of 31 August is the reference point for how bad this pattern gets. PTI reported that at least 11 people were killed and five injured when a massive explosion tore through a firecracker factory at Manori village in the Pipri police station area. Several nearby houses collapsed, and the blast briefly halted trains on the Delhi-Howrah line passing nearby.

The factory had been granted an explosives licence in 2019 — valid until 2026 — but the licence was cancelled in 2024, officials said. Kaushambi District Magistrate Amit Pal said an inquiry was under way into how the unit kept operating after the cancellation, and the operator was arrested under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Explosives Act. The paperwork said the factory was closed; the fireworks were still being made. It is the same pattern of illegal, unregulated workplaces that our guide to factory fires describes — the rules existed, and nobody enforced them.

Why Diwali is the dangerous window

Diwali, the five-day festival of lights observed by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, is the peak of the firecracker year. In 2026 the main celebration, Lakshmi Puja, falls on Sunday 8 November. It is also when firecracker injuries spike across northern India — and fireworks add fine particles to air already trapped near the ground by winter weather. Our smog season guide explains why the winter air is the worst air of the year.

The hospital figures from last year's Diwali show the scale. Delhi hospitals reported more than 300 burn injuries over the two days of Diwali 2025, with Safdarjung Hospital treating 129 patients — 118 of them injured by firecrackers. Eighteen had major burns and were admitted. AIIMS New Delhi separately reported 190 firecracker-related eye injuries that Diwali, a 19 per cent rise on the year before, and an AIIMS study found nearly half the victims were bystanders rather than the person lighting the cracker. Distance is not the protection people assume it is.

How fireworks injure people

A firecracker is a small explosive engineered to go off next to you. Most injuries fall into four categories:

  • Burns — from handling lit crackers or clothing catching fire. Earthen lamps add their own toll every Diwali; open flames deserve the caution our winter fire safety checklist sets out.
  • Eye injuries — the most feared outcome, because a fragment or flash at close range can permanently damage vision. Bystanders are at real risk too.
  • Blast injuries — fingers, hands and hearing damaged by crackers that go off in the hand or near the face. A "dud" that explodes late is a classic cause.
  • Smoke — worsens already-bad smog-season air.

Firecracker safety: the rules that already exist

India already has a legal framework — the problem is enforcement. The manufacture, storage and sale of fireworks are regulated under the Explosives Act and licensed through the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO); making fireworks in a house or selling from unlicensed premises is illegal. In recent years the Supreme Court has restricted Diwali bursting in Delhi-NCR to "green" crackers during limited hours. The Varanasi blast is suspected to involve exactly the kind of unlicensed home-based unit the law is supposed to prevent. The practical rule for buyers: purchase fireworks only from licensed sellers, and avoid anything homemade, loose, or sold out of a residential unit.

Using fireworks more safely

  • Let adults handle all fireworks. Children should watch from a good distance — never hold or light anything themselves.
  • Use fireworks only outdoors, on flat open ground, away from houses, vehicles, dry grass and anything flammable.
  • Light one item at a time, then move well back. Never lean over a firework to light it.
  • Never hold a lit firework, and never point or throw fireworks at people, animals or buildings. Never try to relight a "dud" — wait, then soak it in water.
  • Keep a bucket of water or a hose nearby, and soak used fireworks before binning them.
  • Store fireworks in a closed container away from heat and flame — never in a pocket. The same separation of fuel and ignition our gas cylinder safety guide demands applies here.

If something goes wrong

General first aid only — none of this replaces a doctor:

  • Burns: cool with clean running water, cover loosely with a clean cloth, and get medical help. For anything beyond a small, superficial burn, go to a hospital — no creams, oils or home remedies.
  • Eyes: do not rub the eye. Rinse gently with clean water if there is debris, cover lightly, and get to a hospital immediately — eye injuries are time-critical.
  • Hearing: if ringing or hearing loss follows a blast close to the ear, seek medical care rather than waiting.
  • Building damage: do not re-enter a blast-damaged building. Call the emergency number — 112 in India, 1122 in Pakistan — and let trained teams search.

What our records show, and what they miss

Illegal firework units reach our archive only when they explode loudly enough to make the news — like the Varanasi and Kaushambi blasts. There is no official live feed for unlicensed manufacturing, so units operating quietly in residential areas stay invisible until one of them goes off. Our counts are detections, not occurrences, and they thin out where local reporting is thinnest — which is where illegal units are most likely to be. Our chemical leak safety guide covers what to do when hazardous materials escape near homes.

The short version

  • Two suspected illegal firework units exploded in Uttar Pradesh six weeks apart: Varanasi on 15 October (three hospitalised) and Kaushambi on 31 August (at least 11 dead).
  • Diwali 2026 falls on 8 November, and injuries spike every year: over 300 burn cases in Delhi last Diwali, 190 eye injuries at AIIMS alone.
  • The law exists — licensed manufacture only, green crackers with limited hours in Delhi-NCR — but unlicensed home units keep operating.
  • Buy from licensed sellers; light one at a time outdoors; never hold, relight or aim fireworks; keep water nearby and soak everything afterwards.
  • Burns: cool running water, then medical help. Eyes: do not rub, get to hospital fast. Never re-enter a blast-damaged building.