It was all over in a matter of minutes and before people could realise what was happening, 11 persons were electrocuted to death and others ran helter-skelter in disbelief while the temple chariot was ablaze. The Appar temple car procession in Thanjavur on Wednesday ended in a tragedy that led to an outpouring of grief and anguish from various quarters.
“People were thrown away, they just fell down. I could see a man lying here and another one there and the unfolding scene was freghtening as we could not understand what was happening,” a woman eyewitness said.
Villagers say the wooden temple chariot, with parts being iron based fitment, was decorated with colourful lights especially on the top, and it came into contact with the overhead electricity line. The chariot’s lighting was powered by a mobile generator tied to the rear end of the temple car. Local men said the lights on the top of the chariot and the foldable structure that supported it came in contact with the High Tension overhead powerline, leading to electrocution.
“Organisers could not go near the generator, leave alone turning it off. Obviously no one was sure from where the electricity was originating and how it was passing on and it was mayhem,” a villager who witnessed the tragedy said.
Also, in keeping with the custom, water was poured on the ground on which the chariot was set to arrive on any street and the wet surface too contributed in conducting the electricity.
“When some people poured water to douse fire in a particular spot, it conducted electricity further and added to the chaos injuring people,” another man said. The chariot that was by then ablaze was eventually gutted.
At the same time, the injured people, which includes both severely injured and others with relatively less severity, screamed in pain drawing local people in hordes. They could however do nothing much as power conductivity was still live.
It soon became apparent that the persons lying motionless here and there could be dead. When they were rushed to the hospital, the fears of the families of participants in the temple event and local people became true.
“It was all over in a matter of minutes. It took a while for us to understand that people were dead and many were injured,” a local man said.