Helium balloons burst during Velankanni festival flag ceremony, injuring four devotees

The opening ceremony of the eleven-day St Mary’s Nativity festival in Velankanni started with a flag-carrying procession that moved toward the Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health. Bishop L Sagayaraj of the Thanjavur diocese blessed and raised the flag amid thousands of worshippers. During the ceremony, church personnel ignited firecrackers and skyshots, and several stray crackers landed on helium balloons positioned near the flag mast.

The balloons exploded into a large fireball, causing a brief period of panic. Four devotees—identified as Kalaiselvan, Ramesh, Richard and Vijay—were injured on their faces, hands and bodies and received first-aid before being transported to Nagapattinam Government Medical College Hospital. The event was attended by local politicians, senior police officers and representatives of the state government, while security arrangements were overseen by central and regional police officials. Organisers expect over a million pilgrims to attend the remaining days, with special multilingual masses and a holy car procession scheduled for September 7.