A 12-year-old girl who was under treatment at the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital died on Monday, October 30 of burn injuries she suffered at the explosions that took place at a convention centre in Kalamassery in Kerala’s Ernakulam on Sunday. Libina, a resident of Malayattur in the district, passed away after sustaining more than 95% burns from the blast. Reports said she stopped reacting to medicines in the wee hours of Monday.
The blasts took place amidst a prayer by the Jehovah’s Witnesses community at Zamra International Convention Centre in Kalamassery, in which at least 2,000 people were participating.
Libina’s death takes the toll in the blasts to three. On Sunday, two women died in the blast. One woman who died soon after the blasts was identified as 60-year-old Layona Paulose from Ernakulam’s Kuruppampady. As per reports, she was taking part in the convention alone and most of her relatives reside abroad, which is why there was a delay in her identification since she was charred to death in the blast. Kumari, a 53-year-old native of Thodupuzha in Idukki, passed away on Sunday evening after suffering more than 90% burns from the blast.
More than 30 people were hospitalised, out of which 18 were admitted to Intensive Care Units in various hospitals. Among them, the condition of three patients is said to be critical.
On Sunday afternoon, Ernakulam native Dominic Martin surrendered before the police, claiming responsibility for the blasts. He walked into a police station in Thrissur and confessed to the crime, police stated, saying he did it “because Jehovah Witnesses was on the wrong track”. Before surrendering, Dominic had posted a video saying that he was a member of the sect for many years but was increasingly disillusioned by their teachings which he found to be problematic and anti-national.