KERALA, India (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (April 10) promised all necessary help to the southern state of Kerala as it copes with the aftermath of a catastrophic temple fire.
A fire and explosions during a fireworks display to mark the start of the local Hindu new year killed 100 people and injured more than 380.
Speaking at a hospital in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, the prime minister said his government was ready to step in with assistance.
“I have told the Kerala chief minister that the federal government will make immediate arrangements if critically injured patients need to be shifted to Mumbai, Delhi or somewhere else. The Indian government is with Kerala and the families of victims in this hour of crisis,” he said, adding that residents up to 200 metres from the fire were injured in the blaze.
“I can understand how severe the scale of destruction is,” he said.
Thousands of devotees had packed into the Puttingal Devi temple, about 70 km from Thiruvananthapuram in the coastal district of Kollam, to watch the display that started at midnight and went on four hours.
The blaze started when a cracker fell onto a shed where the fireworks were stored, sparking a string of powerful explosions that blew the roof of the administrative block of the temple and caused another building to collapse, residents said.
Kerala is studded with temples managed by rich and powerful trusts that often flout local regulations. Each year temples hold fireworks displays, often competing to stage the most spectacular ones, with judges who decide the winners.
Kollam district magistrate A. Shainamol said people living in the area near the temple had complained about the danger of these fireworks in the past.
Kerala’s Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told Reuters that 60 of the 100 dead had been identified while the number of people admitted to hospitals in Kollam and the state capital had risen to 383.