Over 150 injured, eight critical in fireworks accident at temple festival in Kerala’s Kasargod
KASARGOD, OCT 29 : Over 150 people including women and children were injured in a fireworks accident during the Anjuambalam Veerarkav Temple festival near Neeleswaram here on Monday midnight, police said. Eight of them are in critical condition.
The injured have been taken to various hospitals in Kasargod, Kannur, and Mangaluru.
District Collector Inbasekar K, on Tuesday, said that those who were seriously injured had 80 per cent burns.
“The cause of the accident is being ascertained. Samples have been collected from the site. A case was lodged,” he said.
He further said that according to a preliminary probe, the fireworks storage facility and the place where the crackers were being burst were close by.
According to the police, it is suspected that the accident occurred when the fireworks storage facility near Veerarkavu Temple caught fire. According to eyewitness accounts, a misfired cracker struck the sheet-paved fireworks storage facility causing a huge explosion.
A large number of people including women and children had gathered near the facility to see ‘theyyam’. Some local media reports also say that women and children were inside the fireworks storage facility when it exploded.
Most of the injured suffered burns on their faces and hands.
“The safety precautions were not taken. The requirement of maintaining a minimum distance of 100 meters between the two was not followed. No permission was taken either for storage of fireworks,” the collector said.
According to local media reports, people were also injured in a stampede-like situation that followed as the panic struck crowd tried to escape from the fire.
The police have registered a case and the temple authorities have been taken into custody.
The accident occurred around midnight, they said.
Top district administration officials, including the collector and District Police Chief Shilpa D rushed to the accident site and oversaw the rescue operation.
Kasargod MP Rajmohan Unnithan called for a detailed investigation into the incident.
-PTI
