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| Sunday, 18 July 2004 |
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Five charged over Indian school inferno (AFP) Saturday, Indian police said Saturday they had charged five people with negligence over the deaths of 88 children in a fire that engulfed a primary school in southern Tamil Nadu state. The arrests of the school's headmistress and four other officials came a day after the fire swept through the third-storey thatched-roofed Saraswati Primary School in Kumbakonam on Friday and as anguished parents held funerals for their dead children. The children were mostly aged between six and 10 years. District Administrator J Radhakrishnan identified the five arrested as Shantha Lakshmi, headmistress of the school, and two other school managers, the school cook and the organiser of the noon meal centre. "They have been charged with gross negligence, leading to deaths and some other sections of the Indian Penal Code," Radhakrishnan said. The arrests came after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jayram called for criminal action against the school management, saying it had not adhered to basic fire safety standards. Radhakrishnan said 75 children died on the spot while 13 others died of injuries in hospital, bringing the death toll to 88. The dead totalled 43 girls and 45 boys. Three bodies had not been identified. Electrical short Authorities said the fire was believed to have started in the school kitchen where cooks were preparing lunch for hundreds of children. Some officials had also said it might have been sparked by an electrical short circuit and an investigation was under way. Funerals for most of the children were expected to be held Saturday but some were performed late Friday in Kumbakonam, 350 kilometres (220 miles) from Madras, capital of Tamil Nadu. "Some of the parents needed strong sedatives. They went into shock when they saw the horribly charred bodies of their little ones," said P. Kumar, a doctor at a state-run hospital which treated some victims. "Most of them also can't get away from how terrible the end must have been for their children. Now they will have to steel themselves for the last rites." Newspapers splashed reports of the fire across their front pages Saturday showing grim pictures of the twisted remains of the children lined up for their parents to identify. "Kitchen fire swallows schoolkids," said The Indian Express newspaper. About 20 children were still battling for their lives in hospital. One injured boy, Ramesh, said from hospital that the fire started in the school kitchen which was preparing the noon meals and soon spread. "Our five teachers fled, leaving us behind," he said, his face contorted in pain. "My son and daughter were late for school. I forced the guard to unlock the school gate and let them enter ... They would be alive if I had not done this," said a 30-year-old grief-stricken mother who did not want to be identified. Firefighters said the victims stood no chance of survival as the blazing thatched roof collapsed on the trapped children. "They were surrounded by fire from all sides. They had no hope from the moment the fire started," a fireman said. Heaps of bodies, some locked in embrace, were found in the stairwell and classrooms. Tiny shoes and charred school books littered the floor. Rescue efforts were hampered by the school's practice of bolting the doors after the children arrived, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Reports said some of the children had tried to flee down a narrow stairway. Some suffocated in the stampede. The chief minister also suspended the district education officer on charges of "dereliction of duty" and said survivors must be treated at state expense. India's parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Abdul Kalam expressed anguish over the tragedy. Worst disaster The fire was India's worst disaster involving children since December 1995 when 178 school children were among 578 people who died in a blaze that engulfed a community tent during a festival in northern Haryana state. The accident prompted calls for higher fire safety standards at public events and establishments. But hundreds of thousands of schools and other institutions across India do not even have basic fire-fighting equipment and few practise any fire drills. Meanwhile a Reuter report states Parents broke down in tears as the bodies of their children were buried or cremated on Saturday after a fire in an Indian school killed 88 children. "He is gone, he is gone forever," wailed Vijaya as she said farewell to her eight-year-old son Vadivelu, who died of his burns in hospital on Friday. "I had prepared his afternoon meal for him, but he will never eat it." At least 15 people gathered outside her house to console Vijaya and her husband Sekhar, a manual labourer. The scene was repeated in dozens of locations across the little town of Kumbakonam, which lies in a fertile district known as the rice bowl of the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The Perumandi cremation and burial ground in the town stayed open overnight as attendants buried or burned the bodies of dozens of children killed in the blaze. "At least 30 of the bodies that have come here were in the 5-10 year age group," said burial ground owner Subramanian. "The parents are rushing through the last rites as they cannot bear to look at the charred bodies any more." As 10-year old Monica's body was lowered into a grave, her father slipped to the ground in grief. A mourner said the girl had escaped the fire only to go back into the building in an effort to retrieve her books. "She was scared that her parents would scold her for losing the books," he said. |
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