Kollam temple fire: Spark hit explosives store

Paravur: The exact cause of the fatal explosion is still not clear as most of the people who were near the site are either dead or injured.

Local eyewitnesses say that it was caused by a ‘Sooryakanthi’ firework that did not go up as expected. It didn’t burn fully, but a weak spark from it fell on another inflammable device that was ready.

Some say the device that caught fire from the spark was in the hands of a worker. Others say that the device that was triggered by the stray spark was kept near the ‘padakkapura’ (the explosive store) leading to a series of explosions.

The sparks from this explosive, they say, fell upon the 'padakkapura' and the entire stock went up in one big earth-shattering explosion.