Safety is often sacrificed on the altar of faith. On April 21, a series of powerful explosions ripped through a makeshift fireworks assembly unit at Mundathikode on the outskirts of the Kerala city of Thrissur, causing death and destruction. Unofficial estimates put the death toll at 15; The explosions left over 24 injured, many of them seriously, and damaged around 50 houses in the area. An unspecified number of workers were handling firecrackers piled up in several sheds for the usual fireworks display ahead of the annual Thrissur Pooram, which culminated in a fireworks competition organized by Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu temple authorities. The State and Center announced compensation to the families of the victims and declared it a state-specific calamity to expedite relief. Several investigations, including a judicial commission led by a former Supreme Court judge, have been launched to uncover any security and regulatory breaches. A scaled-down version of the Pooram show will be held on April 26 keeping in mind the ‘purpose of the public’.
The blasts, following a similar explosion at the Virudhunagar fireworks factory in Tamil Nadu, have once again exposed gaps in the enforcement of safety and licensing norms in India’s pyrotechnics industry. It is clear that the strict regulatory measures established by the Judicial Commission after Fireworks accident at Puttingal Temple in 2016 — relating to licensing, materials, layout and execution of exhibitions — were gradually sidelined during Kerala’s summer festival season. Eyewitness accounts in Mundathikode indicate a woeful lack of adherence to safety norms. Explosives experts have pointed to the absence of a safe distance between gunpowder shelters and abrasion-sensitive chemicals, accumulation of excessive flash dust, lack of safety devices and firefighting equipment, employment of untrained personnel, likely use of banned chemicals and lax enforcement all add up to a perfect recipe for disaster. Religious festivals like Thrissur Pooram have recently been embroiled in vote bank politics, discouraging authorities from enforcing security measures around dangerous activities such as fireworks and elephant parades. “Loudness” often defines the success of competitive fireworks, and attempts to end high-decibel fireworks citing the safety of patients, pregnant women and infants have found little public support. The Mundathikode tragedy is a sobering reminder of the human cost of high-risk celebrations and should accelerate the adoption of safer modern alternatives to conventional pyrotechnics, such as cold spark technology.
Published – 25 Apr 2026 0:20 AM IST
