Probe panel submits report on Puttingal temple fire tragedy

More than three years after a major fireworks tragedy at a Kerala temple claimed over 100 lives, a judicial commission of inquiry which probed the incident submitted its report to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Wednesday.

Justice P S Gopinathan Commission, which probed the tragedy that hit the century-old Puttingal Devi temple at Paravoor in Kollam district, submitted the report to the chief minister at his official residence here, official sources said.

In one of the worst temple tragedies in Kerala, as many as 111 people died and more than 300 injured during an explosion as an unauthorised display of fireworks display was going on at the temple precincts in the early hours of April 10, 2016.

A spark from a cracker fell on to a large storehouse of crackers and fireworks, triggering the massive explosion that destroyed more than 100 houses and partially damaged 2,000 houses in the vicinity.

Several wells at the nearby locality caved in under the impact of explosion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had visited the accident spot.