Kerala blasts: Toll rises to three as another succumbs to wounds

The death toll from the blasts at a Christian religious gathering near this port city of Kerala has risen to three, according to an official statement. A 12-year-old girl, identified as Libina from Malayattoor in Ernakulam district, succumbed to her injuries in the early hours of Monday at the Kalamassery Government Medical College Hospital. In the statement issued by the hospital’s medical board, the girl was admitted to the hospital on Sunday morning with severe burns covering 95 per cent of her body. Despite receiving ventilator support, her condition continued to deteriorate, leading to her death at 12.40 am, it said. This marks the third casualty from the blasts at the convention centre. Two women who were part of the gathering had lost their lives on Sunday. Over 50 individuals were injured, some seriously, during the multiple blasts at the international convention centre in Kalamassery where the followers from the minority Christian group, Jehovah’s Witnesses, had gathered for the final day of a three-day-long prayer meeting. A few hours after the incident, a man claiming to be a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, surrendered before police in Thrissur district of the state, saying that he carried out the multiple blasts.