The blaze took place at the Puttingal Devi temple in Kerala’s Kollam district, and occurred at 3:10 a.m. local time, in the midst of a fireworks display watched by a crowd of 10,000. The display was part of a fireworks competition, an annual event on the last day of a seven-day festival in honor of the temple deity Bhadrakali. The temple was conducting the competition despite the denial of permission from the authorities.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed his health minister JP Nanda to head the spot immediately, and is himself in the town. The Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, cancelled his campaign for upcoming state elections in May and headed to the site. Modi visit the Kollam General Hospital at 3.05 pm, and Chandy will meet the PM at 4.10 pm.
The fire started when a live firecracker fell on the storehouse where the rest of the fireworks were stored. The court had earlier mandated that fireworks must be stored at least 100 yards from the temple premises, orders which had been disregarded in this case. “We will be investigating how the orders were flouted and who was responsible for the decision to go ahead with the firework display,” Chandy said. Though not one of the major temples of Kerala, the Puttingal temple is popular within the district, and attracts large crowds on festival days.
“It has happened after 75 percent of the fireworks were (already) burst. It was actually fortunate, otherwise the casualties would have been much, much, much more,” said N.K. Premachandran, Member of the Parliamet from Kollam district. Many of the injured have suffered burns of over fifty percent.
Modi has announced a compensation of INR 200,000 ($3,000) for the kin of the deceased. Injured will receive a quarter of that amount. Chandy said post-mortems will be completed as soon as possible so that bodies can be handed over to relatives soon. The Chief Minister also said that the cabinet would meet on what action was to be taken against temple authorities for flouting rules. According to police sources, a case has been registered against temple authorities for attempt to murder, attempt to commit culpable homicide and also under the Explosives Substances Act of the Indian Penal Code.
“There were body parts all over the place,” Anita Prakash, an eyewitness said. “In the past, there have been fireworks but never at this level. We intend to complain to the collector,” she added.
Health Minister Nanda said over Twitter, “Directed the health officials at Kollam and Trivandrum to be fully prepared to handle the situation.” The Prime Minister also ordered that a team of burn specialists head to the site, while Air Force and Navy doctors were also diverted to the town. Armed forces helicopters are also on call to carry injured to nearby towns for treatment. Three ships of the Indian Navy are headed to various ports in the coastal state of Kerala carrying medical supplies.
