Kasaragod: The death toll from the October 29 firecracker explosion at Nileshwar's Anjoothambalam Veererkavu Temple has risen to six. P C Padmanabhan (75), a resident of Theru Vayal in Nileshwar, succumbed to burn injuries on Thursday while receiving treatment in the ICU at MIMS, Kannur. He was the only remaining ICU patient at the hospital, which is also treating five other survivors in the general ward.

Padmanabhan was a retired manager from the District Service Cooperative Bank (now Kerala Bank). Nileshwar councillor E Shajeer confirmed his death.

He is survived by his wife, Bhargavi M T, and children Rojen Ranjith Babu (Vice-President, Mashreq Bank, Dubai) and Shine Jith (Engineer). His daughters-in-law are Veena (Taliparamba) and Shriyuktha (Vadakara). The funeral will be held on Friday.

Current status of patients
At least 37 patients are still receiving treatment across six hospitals in Kannur, Kozhikode, and Mangaluru. Of them, five are in ICU, and all of them are at Mangaluru's AJ Medical College. The hospital is treating 19 other patients in the general ward.

Following the accident, 154 people sustained injuries, 95 of whom were hospitalised with burn injuries. Initially, 27 patients were admitted to ICUs in critical condition. Six of these ICU patients have since died, while 16 have recovered and are out of the ICU.

Victims of the accident
The first to succumb to his injuries was C Sandeep (38) from Kinavoor in Kinanoor-Karinthalam panchayat. He suffered 45% burns to his respiratory tract and was on ventilator support at Baby Memorial Hospital in Kannur.

Since then, five others have died: U Ratheesh (40) from Kinavoor; K Biju (37) from Manjalamkadu, near Kollampara in Kinanoor-Karinthalam; Shibinraj (19) from Orkkalam at Thuruthi in Cheruvathur panchayat; Ranjith (28) from Kinavoor; and Padmanabhan (68). Sandeep, Ratheesh, Biju, and Ranjith were known to be close friends.

The accident
The explosion happened during "Kulichu Thottam," a ritual in preparation for the Moovalamkuzhi Chamundi Theyyam festival, a major annual event that marks the start of the Theyyam season in North Malabar. Firecrackers worth Rs 30,000, stored for the event, detonated, injuring 154 people at the temple. Preliminary investigations revealed that the storage room for firecrackers and the detonation area were just two to three feet apart, violating regulations that mandate a minimum distance of 100 meters between storage and ignition points, said the Collector.