Temple committee responsible for Tripunithura blast; eight houses completely damaged, owners seek compensation

KOCHI: The four people arrested in the blast at an illegal firecracker storage unit at Puthiyakavu Devi Temple in Tripunithura will be produced in the court today. It is hinted that the office bearers of the temple were those arrested. People who brought the explosives from Thiruvananthapuram are also being investigated.

Meantime, eight houses have been completely damaged and forty houses partially damaged. Vehicles were also damaged. The house owners demanded compensation from those responsible for the explosion.

The councilors of the Tripunithura Municipal Corporation said the Puthiyakavu Temple Committee is responsible for the blast. They said the temple committee should pay compensation to the people whose houses have been damaged.

The explosion at the unit was at 10.30 am yesterday. The whole area shook like a tremor. The impact of the blast was felt upto three kilometre. The blast happened when boxes containing firecrackers brought from Palakkad for the festival at the temple were being unloaded from the tempo traveller to a nearby building. It is believed that a dynamite may have fell down and exploded. The firecrackers in the building also exploded.

Two identified as Vishnu (27), son of Ashok Kumar of Ulloor in Thiruvananthapuram and Divakaran (55) of Punalur had died in the blast. Anandan (69) of Punalur in Kollam, Adarsh (29) of Madavoor Sasthamkota, Madhusudanan (60) of Sasthamkota and Anil (49) of Paripally sustained serious injuries.