Tirunelveli, February 22: Six employees of a fireworks factory were charred to death and over 10 others got injured after a fire broke out at its unit in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district Friday, police said. Eight sheds in the factory unit at Varaganur were destroyed when the bundles of firecrackers kept for drying exploded, they said.

Three fire tenders were engaged to douse the flames which spread from the sheds to the area, where the employees were working, police said. The injured people were rushed to a government hospital in Kovilpatti, they said. A case was registered against the factory owner, who was at large, police said.