Jayashree, the bride who was injured in the wedding fire in which over 50 people were killed near Tiruchirapalli, in hospital on Friday. (Reuters)

Chennai, Jan. 23: Moments before he was to tie the knot this morning, 36-year-old Gururajan burnt to death in a fire that engulfed a marriage hall at Srirangam, a temple town about 300 km from here, killing 51 people.

Around 9.30 am, a yagna was being performed on the terrace of the single-storey building, under a thatched roof, as part of the wedding rituals. Over 200 friends and family members had gathered in the small area.

Downstairs, the bride, Jayashree, was about to leave for the muhurtham (the time when the bridegroom ties the mangalsutra) when the mandap caught fire. She survived with some bruises and is unconscious in hospital.

Preliminary reports said an electrical short circuit probably caused the fire. The sparks quickly spread to the thatched roof, already over-heated by flames from the yagna. Soon, the whole roof was burning and it collapsed on the congregation, setting off a stampede.

“A cameraman was videographing the marriage and it appears the power drawn by the flash he was using may have been too much for the basic wiring provided in the makeshift hall, causing a short-circuit,” police commissioner Sunil Kumar Singh said.

Gururajan, an employee of a public sector insurance company, died trying in vain to save his grandfather from the fire. Four children younger than eight were among the dead.

“It was a combination of fire and people scrambling for safety,” a police official said from Tiruchirappalli, which neighbours the pilgrimage centre.

Most of the victims apparently died of burns or asphyxiation from the smoke, police said, though some may have been killed or injured as panicked guests stampeded down a narrow staircase.

Raju Pillai, a watchman in a neighbouring building, saw bodies being taken to hospital in three garbage lorries. The mortuary at the hospital was full and bodies had to be laid outside, covered with sarees.

Till 6.30 pm, police had identified 41 of the dead. The bodies were being handed to relatives after post-mortem, they said.

Seventy-five people suffered injuries or fell unconscious and were taken to hospitals in Srirangam and Tiruchirappalli.

Witnesses said bodies charred beyond recognition and steel chairs twisted out of shape were strewn all over Padmapriya Marriage Hall. Many people had got stuck in plastic chairs, which had melted. Some collapsed in the chairs they were sitting on.

Fire service personnel said flesh and hair were found sticking to the walls and pillars. The plastic material and asbestos sheets on the sides of the hall had fed the fire, they said.

Raju Pillai said: “There was suffocating and blinding smoke and pungent smell, which delayed rescue operations by the public who rushed to the spot.”

The smell of burnt plastic, flesh, and ghee hung in the air for hours after the fire was doused by the public and the fire service personnel.

Expressing shock, chief minister Jayalalithaa announced a solatium of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of the dead, Rs 15,000 to those who suffered serious injuries and Rs 6,000 to those who sustained simple injuries.

She has directed the Tiruchirappalli district collector to send a detailed report to the government on the incident soon.