Police have detained four men to assist investigations into the firecracker explosion during a Thaipusam celebration at the Sri Subramaniya Swami Temple in Sungai Petani yesterday, during which 26 people were injured.

The incident took place about 8.30pm while the crowd was witnessing the chariot procession emerging from the temple, which started about half-an-hour earlier.

Kuala Muda district police chief ACP Saifi Abdul Hamid said the four men, aged between 25 and 34, were arrested about midnight for investigation under Section 324 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means and Section 4 of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958.

He said no permit was issued to the organizer of the event for the firecracker performance but did not rule out the possibility of a group of people lighting the firecrackers to add gaiety to the celebration.

“However, there was no element of mischief in the incident,” he said when met by reporters at the Sultan Abdul Halim (HSAH) early today.

Saifi said police received a report on the incident at 8.30pm and found that the explosion was from firecrackers, instead of fireworks as was reported by the media earlier.

On the victims who were injured in the incident, he said they comprised 14 men and 12 women, aged between five and 59, and all of them sustained minor injuries, where four of them were admitted to HSAH.

“Those admitted to the hospital included a five-year-old girl, who was injured on the right eye, a 57-year-old woman with injury on the right arm and a 38-year-old man with injury on the left eye,” he said, adding that the others were given outpatient treatment.

A policeman who was on duty at the scene was also injured in the incident and was given outpatient treatment at the hospital.

--Bernama