Malappuram: What began as celebrations marking the UDF’s clear win in the Kerala local body polls turned tragic near Malappuram on Saturday when a party activist lost his life after firecrackers he was carrying exploded by accident, police said.

The incident occurred in the evening, an officer of Kondotty police station said.

The 40-year-old man, Irshad, was bursting crackers while riding his two-wheeler in Kondotty, when sparks fell on the large amount of firecrackers stored in the scooter, police said.

As the firecrackers exploded, they set him and his scooter on fire and caused fatal burn injuries to him, police said.

The body will be handed over to the family after completing the inquest proceedings and the postmortem, it said.

PTI