TRAGEDY// Over 100 people were killed when a fireworks display at a temple in Kerala went wrong last month. Hundreds of others were injured as the blasts sent material flying around, causing injuries.

A festival celebrating the Hindu goddess Kali was to end on a Saturday night at a temple in Paravur in Kerala. The festival usually ends with a fireworks display. Even though permission for lighting fire crackers was not given by the local government, the temple went ahead with the firework show that lasted many hours and was still going on during the early morning hours of Sunday.

That’s when tragedy struck. A spark from a rocket fell on an auto-rickshaw and a nearby storeroom where more firecrackers were stored. This set off a series of explosions and a fire broke out. The blasts sent rocks, bricks and big pieces of the building itself flying and these flying pieces wounded and killed many. The temple roof also collapsed.

The temple was clearly wrong in conducting the firework display without permission. The rule of no fireworks after 10 pm was also broken. The police are right now investigating the role of the people who run the temple and those in charge of the firework display in causing this tragedy.