KOCHI: Fragments of crackers litter the ground. A pickup van – gutted in the inferno – remains unrecognisable while a car lies twisted and broken. Electric posts lie uprooted and roof tiles scattered. Windowpanes are shattered, reflecting the devastation within, and the walls of houses – which provided safety and cover to families – are now just pieces of bricks. Vehicles bear the scars of the blast. Even a tree was pierced with plastic shreds.
The Choorakkad area near Puthiyakavu in tripunithura resembled a war-torn zone after a massive firecracker explosion killed two persons and injured several others on Monday.
The explosion did not just ravage buildings but shook hundreds of people living in the densely populated locality. “I was watching a video on my mobile phone when the windows, doors, and roof tiles started collapsing to the floor,” said Sasidhara Panikar, whose house suffered extensive damage.
“A few of them landed near me. I could hear my wife’s screams from outside the building. I had no clue what was happening around us. It took a few minutes to understand what was happening.”
Reshma, a working woman staying adjacent to the accident site with her two-year-old child, expressed shock and anger at the situation.
“I was in shock as I couldn’t find my child. The entire building was shaking and windowpanes collapsing. I heaved a sigh of relief only after I saw my child in a room, utterly shaken. Who allowed the temple authorities to store such dangerous firecrackers in a residential area? I don’t know what impact this will have on my child,” said Reshma, trembling with anger and pain.
Rajalakshmi, 61, expressed concern about her family’s future as their house, where they have been living for several years, was severely damaged in a matter of seconds. “The roof of the house was fully damaged and the walls were cracked. Several household items were damaged. It feels as if we’ve become homeless. We don’t know where we’ll go until we repair it,” she said.
Mani Raveendran, 60, is yet to come out of the trauma. “I was inside the house when the blast occurred. A branch of a tree near our house fell on the roof and the roofing sheet fell on my husband. Thankfully, there was no major injury,” she said.
Krishnankutty, 85, whose house was extensively damaged, saw his wife Saraswathy lying in a pool of blood after glass pieces smashed into her. “Soon, she was shifted to Devi Hospital in Tripunithura. The roof tiles of our house were fully damaged,” he said. What angered the residents was that the firecrackers were stored in a lively neighbourhood brimming with shops, hotels and houses.
Shan, another resident, said the fireworks by the Thekkumpuram Karayogam as part of the Puthiyakavu temple festival was delayed on Sunday, which in turn delayed the Vadakkumpuram sample fireworks on Monday morning.
“Many persons associated with it were at the temple ground to make arrangements for the fireworks. Had they been present here, the toll would have been far higher,” he added.
Anand K Udayan, a resident of Puthiyakavu, who was passing through the area at the time of the incident, alerted the police and health authorities. “I alerted the police and called the ambulance after I realised that it was a major tragedy,” he said, the scare still visible in his eyes. Shaji, another resident, recalled that a similar tragedy 30 years ago claimed 3 lives.
