150 Injured in Kerala Firecracker Tragedy, Witnesses Describe "Fireball"

Eyewitnesses have said a firecrackers display was on at the Kerala temple, and one of the crackers may have fallen into the nearby shed where more crackers were stored

Thiruvananthapuram: On a tragic note, around 150 people were injured so far, and about ten of them are in critical condition after fireworks went off late last night at a temple in Kerala's Kasaragod district. While horrifying footage recorded from the scene showed a huge fire consuming ​​the temple grounds, with thousands of bodies and collapsing under severe smoke.

The tragedy happened at Anjootambalam Veererkavu near here as people came in droves to the sacred grove that marked the beginning of the festive season in the Northern Malabar region. Eyewitnesses said that the fireworks display had commenced at around midnight when one of the crackers landed on a tin shed where more firecrackers were stored. The explosion set off a fireball, and flames and smoke billowed into the crowd as onlookers watched in surprise.

One of them, Priyesh who was at the temple with his cousins for the festival said: "It all began when we heard a loud blast followed by seeing a ball of fire. Panic spread immediately. The people near the hut were packed tightly, pressed into a crowd. As per a report in Manorama Online, "We started taking people to the nearby hospitals immediately.

One of them, Sreerag who serves at a temple in Bengaluru and had come to partake the festival noticed that as he was controlling the swelling crowd around him when heard loud noise from somewhere nearby. So the day 1 is usually decent but after that we expect at least a huge crowd to come on second day, On Monday night, however, a greater number than usual showed up.

Chinese firecrackers stored in shed, a flower cracker set them off: Sreerag Local

29 oct | tue