Toll climbs to 112

Thiruvanthapuram, April 11: Two more victims of the Kerala temple fire tragedy died here on Monday morning, taking the death toll to 112, doctors and officials said. Two middle aged youths succumbed to their injuries at the Thiruvanthapuram Medical College Hospital where 124 people are still being treated, doctors said. The condition of nine others continued to be serious, a doctor said. The pre-dawn Sunday tragedy at the Puttingal Devi temple in the coastal town of Paravur in Kollam district, about 60 km from here, also left more than 350 people injured, some critically. A team of medical professiols who arrived from Delhi has split into two. One group has been attached to the Kollam district hospital while the other group is at the state-run hospital here. At Kollam, senior officials of the health department and the Delhi team took stock of the treatment procedures and decided that there was no need to shift any of the patients out of the district. The Delhi team will visit all the hospitals in Kollam to assess the condition of the patients. Fourteen bodies at Kollam and four in Thiruvanthapuram are yet to be identified. The Kerala government on Monday decided to open a temporary medical outpost at the temple premises. It will function for a week. (IANS)