Actor Dharmajan Bolgatty has said he had a narrow escape from the explosion at a firecracker unit in Varapuzha on Tuesday that claimed one life and left at least four others seriously injured.

Dharmajan told mediapersons after the accident that he used to frequent the place and was friends with those that ran the facility.

"I had a narrow escape. I used to come to their house here often. Now everything has been reduced to rubble," Dharmajan said.

The actor has claimed that the proprietors were planning to move the explosives into a bigger facility in Palakkad.

Ernakulam District Collector, Renu Raj, has said the firecracker unit had functioned without a license for manufacturing or storing the explosives.