Fireworks disaster at Kerala Temple kills 106 people in South India

An explosion caused by fireworks during a religious festival at a temple in India yesterday killed about 106 people and hundreds more injured in the southern Indian state of Kerala according to reports.

P. T. Chacko, a spokesman for Chief Minister Oommen Chandy of Kerala, said that the fireworks display had been forbidden by officials in the coastal district of Kollam but that the temple festival organizers still used the fireworks anyway.

The explosions leveled several buildings, killing and injuring people according to a television interview by Fire officer at the scene, K.Hari Kumar. “Fragments of the building with huge pieces of burnt crackers were flying all over, “We all started scrambling for a safe place,” Mr. Rajendran, a 36 yar old local mason. The official statement said 75 bodies have been identified and 84 post-mortems had been conducted.

Source: Time of India