Kerala temple fire: PM Modi to reach Kollam soon to take stock, calls incident 'heartrending and shocking'

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday described the fire at Kerala temple that killed 86 people as “heartrending and shocking”. “Fire at temple in Kollam is heartrending and shocking beyond words. My thoughts are with families of the deceased and prayers with the injured,” Modi said in a tweet. He also said that he will be reaching Kerala soon to take stock of the situation.

Fire at temple in Kollam is heart-rending & shocking beyond words. My thoughts are with families of the deceased & prayers with the injured.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 10, 2016

Spoke to CM Oommen Chandy about the fire at a temple in Kollam. Arranging for immediate shifting of those critically injured via helicopter.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 10, 2016

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I will be reaching Kerala soon to take stock of the situation arising due to the unfortunate fire tragedy in Kollam.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 10, 2016

At least 102 people were killed in an accident on Sunday due to a firework display which caused a massive blaze at the Puttingal temple in the coastal town of Paravur located about 60 kms from the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram. The gruesome incident occurred around 3.30 am on Sunday. Eyewitness said that the fireworks display started close to midnight and when nearing its close, a spark from a cracker landed in a building that had stored some high potency crackers and it caught fire causing a massive explosion. “The normal practice is to store the high potency crackers in the building and from there it’s taken to the place where their is light. A spark from a live cracker landed in the building that stored these massive crackers,” Kunjumon, a local believer, said. [caption id=“attachment_2721274” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Many people were killed after an explosion took place at the Puttingal temple in Kollam, Kerala. AP[/caption] Following this, the building collapsed and that was the prime reason for the number of casualties to increase. Those in the know of things revealed that generally there is firework display competition, but according to local legislator PK Gurudasan, there was no competition but it was just a firework display, generally associated with any temple festival and one is not clear if there was any sanction for this display. State Health Minister VS Sivakumar said around 60 injured have been brought to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital. “Numerous people are under treatment in hospitals at Kollam. The health department is fully geared to provide the necessary treatment,” said Sivakumar. Meanwhile, Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala announced financial assistance to the dead and the injured. He said judicial probe would be ordered soon. The fire has been brought under control.