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30 injured as crackers catch fire at temple festival

Rajesh Nair

Twenty-six persons have been admitted to JIPMER Incident occurred due to the carelessness of the man who was in charge of lighting the firecrackers, say eywitnesses

BLAST VICTIM: One of the critically injured persons in the cracker blast at the mass casualty room in JIPEMR in Pondicherry. — Photo: T. Singaravelou

PONDICHERRY: Thirty persons were injured, some of whom are in a critical state, after a bundle of crackers caught fire during a fire works display at a temple festival in Vadakurumbur near Ulundhurpettai on Wednesday night.

Twenty-six persons have been admitted to JIPMER and the condition of five is stated to be critical. Apart from a 11-year old boy who has nearly 30 per cent burns, the other injured are between 25 and 60 years.

"Five of the injured sustained near total burns and their condition is critical. They are being treated in a separate section in the mass casualty room," Dr. A. K. Das, Medical Superintendent of JIPMER told The Hindu

Eleven more have sustained about 20 to 70 per cent burns. The rest were discharged after treatment, Dr. Das said.

Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred due to the carelessness of the man who was in charge of lighting the firecrackers, which were mostly country made rockets. He is one of the critically injured.

Paramesvaran, who sustained minor injuries, said, "We could only remember the man picking up a firecracker from a bundle in which the fireworks were kept and suddenly they all went off. When he went to pick up the fire cracker he had a lighted thick rope in his hand and a spark from the rope caused the fire."

"The fireworks display was at a vacant plot near the temple. Only around 50 people were around. Many managed to get into the empty temple tank and escaped with minor injuries," Sakthivel, one of the eyewitness said.

There were no vehicles to take the injured to Ulundhurpettai taluk hospital. "We had to take a private school bus to take the injured to the taluk hospital. After the doctors asked us to take the injured to JIMER we asked for an ambulance. But we didn't get it and so we took them in the same bus to JIPMER," Sakthivel said. "Though on all other days during the festival policemen were posted, on Wednesday night they were not present," Paramesvaran said.

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