THANJAVUR: A fire walking ceremony at a Goddess Mariamman temple at Thenkudi village near Nannilam in Tiruvarur district turned tragic, as 20 persons suffered burns after they fell inside the pit where red-hot burnt charcoal was spread in the early hours on Saturday. The injured were admitted to the Tiruvarur Medical college hospital and private hospitals in Tiruvarur. The three-day temple festival started on April 20, police said. . The fire-walking ceremony at the temple began at 5 am on Saturday.
Devotees came to fulfill their vows to the Goddess and walked on fire. A group of 20 persons who were carrying the ‘chapparam’ (a cart like structure made of wood) with which they enter the pit and walk on burning coal, suddenly slipped and fell down with it. Even as the devotees suffered severe burn injuries in the process, people nearby and police personnel pulled them out and moved them to the Medical college hospital at Tiruvarur and to private hospitals.
Their condition is stated to be out of danger. The fire-walk ritual abruptly ended after the mishap. Nannilam police registered a case.
