TRICHY: The annual feast of St Mary’s Nativity commenced in Velankanni in Nagapattinam district on Saturday with the ceremonial hoisting of the festival flag. At least four devotees were injured as some helium balloons exploded due to fire near the church.The festival began with a procession carrying the festival flag towards the Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health. Around 6.45 pm, Bishop L Sagayaraj of Thanjavur diocese blessed the flag and hoisted it on the flag mast near the church amid a sea of thousands of devotees.During the hoisting, church staffers burst firecrackers and skyshots. Suddenly some of the stray crackers fell over the helium balloons floating near the flag mast, causing them to explode into a large fireball. The explosion caused panic and tension for several minutes.At least four devotees—Kalaiselvan, Ramesh, Richard and Vijay—were injured on their faces, hands and bodies. They were given first aid and rushed to Nagapattinam Government Medical College Hospital.Nagapattinam MP V Selvaraj, district collector K J Praveen Kumar, rector C Irudayaraj and parish priest J Augustine were also present during the event.Finance minister N Marie Wilson, housing and urban development minister B Rajkumar and chief whip R Sabarinathan represented the state govt.Central Zone IGP V Balakrishnan, Thanjavur range DIG Ziaul Haque and Nagapattinam SP Kelkar Subhramanya Bhalchandra made the necessary security arrangements.Over a million devotees are expected to visit during the 11-day celebration, which concludes with flag lowering on Sept 8. Special masses in various languages will be conducted on the following days. The holy car procession, the highlight, is scheduled on Sept 7.Devotees from across the country are arriving via special buses, trains, cars and tourist vehicles and on foot. The transport department and Southern Railway have arranged a high number of buses and trains.
