Kollam, India – Police detained 13 people on Tuesday over a massive explosion and fire during a banned fireworks display that claimed more than 100 lives in southern India, a senior officer said.

The blast ripped through concrete buildings and ignited a fire at a Hindu temple complex in Kerala state where thousands had gathered early Sunday to watch the display.

“We have taken 13 men into custody, arrests will follow soon,” said the head of Kerala’s police crime branch, S. Ananthakrishnan.

Some of those detained were temple officials who surrendered to police earlier Tuesday after they went missing following the tragedy in Kerala’s Kollam district.

The remainder were temple officials and contractors for the fireworks display whom police picked up Tuesday for questioning.

All face a series of initial charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

As police stepped up their investigation, the Kerala government said the death toll from the disaster had risen to 111 after two more people died of their injuries.

Fireworks display causes massive explosion at India temple

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Reuters

Thousands had packed the temple to celebrate the Hindu New Year festival of Vishu when a stray firework apparently landed on a stockpile of them, triggering the massive blast.

Witnesses told how the force of the explosion sent concrete slabs and roof tiles slamming into the panicked crowd of onlookers.

Firefighters and police battled to douse the fire that broke out after the explosion and to rescue those trapped at the complex, but some victims were charred beyond recognition.

Police said they were investigating who was responsible for holding the fireworks display even though local authorities had refused permission for it.

Fires and stampedes are not uncommon at temples and during religious occasions, often because of poor security arrangements and lax safety standards.

Kerala’s High Court on Tuesday slapped a ban on highly popular fireworks displays at all places of worship in the state after sunset. It made the decision after a judge wrote to the court seeking action in the wake of the tragedy, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The Kerala government has ordered a judicial inquiry into the disaster, which comes as the southern state heads to the polls next month.

HONG KONG – A senior Hong Kong-based Chinese official said on Tuesday that the disappearance of a Hong Kong bookseller was a “very unfortunate incident” that shouldn’t be repeated, without clarifying details of the case.

Asked about the suspected abduction in December of British national Lee Bo from the Chinese-controlled financial hub, Wang Zhenmin, the head of the law department at Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, said he was happy Lee had since returned to the city and was living a “normal life”.

“No one wants to see this kind of case happen in Hong Kong. No one wants to see it happen again in future,” told the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.

His remarks were the most detailed yet from a Chinese official after the disappearances of Lee and four other booksellers who produced and sold gossipy books critical of Chinese leaders.

But Wang said he didn’t know the facts of the case and declined to comment when asked by Reuters whether Chinese authorities had abducted Lee.

The incident has rocked the freewheeling city and sparked local and international concern that Beijing was using shadowy tactics to undermine core freedoms guaranteed to the former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Last week, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said his government had evidence that Lee was “removed from Hong Kong under duress”.

Wang said China would uphold its policy of respecting Hong Kong’s autonomy under the “one country, two systems” formula by which Britain handed Hong Kong back China, adding China would”honour our commitments to Hong Kong society”.

Lee surfaced in China in late February and has since made several visits to Hong Kong, denying in interviews that he was kidnapped by Chinese authorities as many in Hong Kong still believe.

Hong Kong’s freedoms are protected by the Basic Law, a mini-constitution that includes the “inviolable” freedom of Hong Kong people from arbitrary arrest and search.

Hong Kong authorities are still waiting for detailed explanations from China regarding the booksellers and how Lee was able to cross into China from Hong Kong without his travel documents, including a British passport.

The controversy has exacerbated social tensions between Hong Kong and China, fuelling a fledgling independence movement among pockets of the city’s increasingly restive youth including those who took part in the 79-day “Occupy Central” democracy street protests in late 2014.

Wang urged Hong Kong residents to respect the laws of Hong Kong and China. “(They) shouldn’t do anything harmful to Chinese national security under the interests of the entire Chinese people, including our Hong Kong residents,” he said.

Wang also said that young people advocating independence could test the limits of Hong Kong’s vaunted freedom of speech. “I don’t believe they can achieve Hong Kong independence … but in the process … they will cause a lot of conflict,” he said.