Thrissur (Kerala) | The death toll in the Mundathikode fireworks manufacturing unit explosion rose to 15 after its licensee succumbed to burn injuries on Friday.

Mundathikode Satheesh, who had suffered over 80 per cent burns in the April 21 incident, died in the burns ICU at Thrissur Medical College in the afternoon, police said.

Satheesh had been associated with Thrissur Pooram fireworks for the past 14 years.

Officials from the College Police Station said that Satheesh was the license holder for the fireworks manufacturing unit at Mundathikode, where multiple explosions occurred on the afternoon of April 21.

The unit had been preparing fireworks for Thiruvambadi Devaswom, one of the participating temples in the Thrissur Pooram scheduled to be held on April 26.

Police said the condition of three more injured persons remains critical.

The body will be handed over to relatives after the postmortem, police added.

So far, 15 people have died, and four remain missing following the explosion.

An estimated 38 people were working at the unit at the time of the incident.

The search for the missing persons is continuing, as several body parts were recovered during searches conducted on Thursday and Friday.

The recovered body parts will be identified through DNA tests, police said.

Following the accident, Thiruvambadi Devaswom and Paramekkavu Devaswom, the two temples associated with Thrissur Pooram, have decided to scale down the celebrations, while rituals will proceed as usual.