Balloons explode during PM's birthday celebrations

A huge bunch of balloons burst into a ball of fire after sparks from firecrackers punctured them just before release during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s weeklong birthday celebrations here injuring a number of people, police said on Saturday. The incident occured when BJP members, all set to release the balloons, burst firecrackers while garlanding a farmers wing state level office-bearer, Muthuraman at Padi on Friday.

The BJP is celebrating Modi’s birthday(September 17) as ”Seva Diwas” for a week. Sparks, that emanated from the crackers punctured the balloons and in a trice they burst into a huge ball of fire, prompting party workers to take to their heels and the blaze dissipated in moments, police said.

The BJP members had planned to release a hundred hydrogen filled balloons into the air and the mild explosion caused minor injuries to a number of people who were admitted to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for treatment, they said. Since the event was held without permission, the Korattur police booked a case against the organisers and a brief video of the freak accident went viral in social media.