Death toll tops 100 in India temple fire

Associated Press

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India

Rescue officials today sifted through a Hindu temple in southern India where more than 100 died when a fireworks display – an unauthorized pyrotechnic display that went horribly wrong – swept through for a religious festival packed with thousands.

The official death toll so far from the pre-dawn fire on Sunday at the Puttingal temple complex in the village of Paravoor, stood at 102 people with 380 others hurt, officials said, but media reports said the figure was higher.

Scores of devotees ran in panic as the massive initial blast cut off power in the complex, while other explosions sent flames and debris raining down, a witness said. Many people were trapped.

“It was complete chaos,” said Krishna Das of Paravoor. “People were screaming in the dark. Ambulance sirens went off, and in the darkness no one knew how to find their way out of the complex.”

The fire started when a spark from the fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks stored in the temple complex, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the top elected official in Kerala state.

Police were searching for 15 members of the temple board who fled after the accident. Police were investigating for possible charges of culpable homicide, punishable with life imprisonment, and illegally storing a cache of explosives.

Most of the 102 deaths occurred when the building where the fireworks were stored collapsed, Chandy told reporters. About 60 bodies have been identified, he said. TimesNow, an Indian television news channel, put the death toll at 112.

Thousands of worried relatives went to the temple to search for loved ones. Many wept and pressed police officials and rescue workers for information.

At one hospital, Dr. Thomas Mathew said that judging from injuries, a stampede also was likely to have occurred.