Fire cracker shells are kept stacked near the spot where a massive fire broke out during a fireworks display at the Puttingal temple in Kerala's Kollam. (AP Photo)
Highlights
- Series of glaring lapses likely to have contributed to tragedy
- No mandated 100-metre safety zone between display and devotees
- Supreme Court ban on fireworks after 10 pm also violated
When a lavish fireworks display began at a Kerala temple, officials who govern the famous shrine devoted to Puttingal Devi, an incarnation of the Goddess Kali, were in violation of a series of laws. The lapses
have left 108 people dead.
As Chief Controller of Explosives, Sudarshan Kamal, is in charge of monitoring the use, storage and licensing of explosives in Nagpur in Maharashtra. According to him, those who supplied the firecrackers and conducted the display at Kollam used banned chemicals. They also ignored a basic precaution - ensuring there was a 100-metre safety zone between the display and the thousands of devotees who had gathered at the temple early on Sunday morning.
Mr Kamal has been brought in to assist the Kerala police in determining who to hold accountable for the tragedy. Among the basic laws that were broken was a Supreme Court ban on fireworks after 10 pm.
108 people have died, 400 left injured after
a stray spark landed on a stockpile of fireworks at a storehouse. A section of the temple's administrative building collapsed in the explosion that followed; glass windows were shattered nearly two kilometres away.
Administrative officials in the coastal region of Kollam had refused to permit the fireworks, but temple trustees went ahead anyway.
At least 10 temple officials are now missing, the police told NDTV.