A man who escaped from a fire that engulfed a wedding pavilion and killed at least 45 people in southern India on Friday, said he could hear people crying out from the flames.
”We could hear a lot of shouting from inside asking for help. We could do nothing because the fire was blazing,” said S Rangayyan, a wedding guest who fled the rapidly spreading fire in a thatched-roof pavilion on a first-floor building terrace in Tamil Nadu state.
”By the time police arrived, it was all over,” he said in a telephone interview.
Rangayyan is an assistant at the New India Assurance Company in Trichirappalli, across the Cauvery River from Srirangam, the temple town where the fire and subsequent stampede killed 45 and injured 60. Rangayyan spoke from the office, where he was alone, as many of his colleagues were injured or killed.
Among the dead was the bridegroom, Guru Raghavender (38). The bride was seriously injured.
”The fire started suddenly and spread all over the roof very quickly. Thank God, I was near the exit and managed to escape,” Rangayyan said.
He said the hall on the ground floor was meant for the wedding, but the family erected a pavilion on the first floor to cater for the large number of guests.
”The stair was just two feet [less than a metre] wide. Only one person can go through it at a time,” he said.
”When I saw the fire was spreading very quickly, I ran away and went to a nearby building and watched from the terrace.
”Old people, women and children could not force their way out. Most of them died. I saw the bodies of two or three children. Two of my female colleagues also died.” — Sapa-AP