At least 50 Hindu worshipers were killed and more than 100 injured Saturday when fire tore through an 11th century temple in southern India on the eve of major religious ceremony, police said.
It started when holy fire used for prayer set alight a thatched structure inside the famous Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur town, about 200 miles southwest of the capital of Tamil Nadu state, Madras."The death toll has risen to 50," a senior police official told Reuters in Madras. "The fire was caused due to the holy fire."
Police suspect many worshippers burned to death while others died in a stampede to escape the flames and smoke.
State director-general of police K.K. Rajasekaran said the death toll was expected to rise, but the precise number of dead was not likely to be known until daybreak Sunday.
Brihadeeswara, or "Big Temple," was built in the 11th century by the Hindu king Rajaraja Chola. It has been classified as a world architectural monument by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, United News of India said.
The temple houses the biggest lingam, or symbol of a Hindu god's regenerative power, in India, and the temple tower is 216 feet high, the tallest in Asia, the news agency said.
The Press Trust of India said rituals were under way in the temple ahead of the culmination of the Hindu ceremony Kumbabhishekam Sunday. The ceremony was postponed until Monday, police said.
It was not immediately known how much damage the temple sustained in the fire.
Police said 37 bodies had so far been removed from under the thatched structure that collapsed in flames.
"We expect some more bodies under the collapsed roof," the police official said, adding that the fire had been put out.
The fire knocked out electric power in the neighborhood, slowing rescue operations, authorities said.
In February, at least 120 people were killed when a fire ripped through makeshift shelters at a religious gathering in eastern India.
Nearly 425 people died in 1995 when a blaze tore through a school prize-giving ceremony in the northern town of Dabwali in Haryana state near New Delhi.