More than 100 people have been confirmed dead and over 350 injured, many of them grievously, in a fireworks accident that occurred at 3.30 am on Sunday at Puttingal Devi Temple at Paravoor, Kollam.
At the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital (MCH), scores of ambulances and private vehicles have been bringing in the injured since early morning. So far, 112 persons have been brought in here.
Eleven had been brought dead, while two more succumbed to their injuries while under treatment at the ICU.
Four of the dead have been identified, Anil Pradeep (50), Vishnudutt (18), of Vaishnavam, Kizhivillam; Saju (24), S/o Raju, Keezhatttingal and Pradeep (40).
At the MCH, all hands have been put on the deck and doctors, house surgeons and paramedical staff have been struggling hard to handle the huge number of injured persons, many of whom required emergency care and admission.
Apart from severe burn injuries, many people with fractures have been brought to the MCH. This includes people who sustained injuries when they were caught in the stampede and amongst the debris of several buildings which came down when the explosion occurred.
Apart from the four additional operating tables in the emergency operation theatre, the operation theatre of the Orthopaedics department too has been opened to handle the injuries.
Health Minister, V. S. Sivakumar, visited the MCH to assess the situation and to supervise the arrangements. He said that the hospital had made necessary arrangements to handle the trauma victims and that burn injuries were being given special attention. All arrangements have also been made for conducting post mortems too
"The injuries of many are quite serious and many would require amputation of the limbs. We have accommodated the patients in wards 9, 18 and some other wards and in our Burns ICU. Many have sustained burns of over 50 per cent and the condition of some of them are quite serious," the Superintendent of MCH, D. Mohandas, said.
