In pics | Pall of gloom: Kerala mourns its dead after temple fire

A blaze triggered by firecrackers, on Sunday, killed 110 people and injured hundreds who had gathered at a temple in Kerala during an ongoing festival.

A blaze triggered by firecrackers, on Sunday, killed 110 people and injured hundreds who had gathered at a temple in Kerala during an ongoing festival.

A fire killed 110 people and injured hundreds who had gathered at a temple in Kerala. (Sarath Sreekanteswaram/HT Photo)

“It came like a storm, throwing everyone to the ground,” said Anish Kumar, an eyewitness who described the fire at the Puttingal Devi temple in Kollam district’s Paravur on Sunday.

In yet another accident blamed on safety norms violations at places of worship in India, reports said the temple did not have the permission to stage a fireworks show.

Read | ‘It came like a storm’: Kerala survivors describe temple blaze horror

The temple organises an annual firework display competition, with different groups putting on successive light shows for thousands of devotees gathered for the last day of a seven-day festival honouring the goddess Bhadrakali, a southern Indian incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali.

The hand of a devotee who died when a fire broke out at the Puttingal Devi temple, is seen outside the mortuary of a hospital in Kollam, Kerala. (Reuters Photo)

People walk past debris after a fire broke out at a temple in Kollam in Kerala (Reuters Photo)

Residents said they complained about the risk of such fireworks displays, but their concerns were not addressed. (HT Photo)

People stand next to empty fire cracker shells inside the compound of a temple after a fire broke out at the temple in Kollam. (Reuters Photo)

Bodies of victims lie outside a morgue at the Kollam district hospital after a fire broke out during a fireworks display at the Puttingal temple complex in Paravur, Kollam district. (AP Photo)

A man weeps as bodies of victims lie outside a morgue at the Kollam district hospital. (AP Photo)

A volunteer shows the face of a victim, who died in a fire at the Puttingal Devi temple, to a relative for identification, outside a mortuary of a hospital in Kollam. (Reuters Photo)

View of a damaged building after a fire broke out during a fireworks display in Paravur, Kerala. (PTI Phoot)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the injured victims at the Kollam district hospital. (AP Photo)

Read | After the fire: Torn clothes, smell of death, dogs at Kerala temple

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