News & Politics - 90 Children Die in School Fire as Teachers Fled

sick little jag · 07-17-2004, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Parents mourn India fire victims

Saturday, July 17, 2004 Posted: 11:37 AM EDT (1537 GMT)

KUMBAKONAM, India (AP) -- Parents cremated the already charred bodies of their children on Saturday after a devastating fire that swept through a primary school in rural India, killing at least 90 children.

Some officials said teachers fled the burning thatched-roof building without helping their students escape.

The fire started Friday in a kitchen and jumped across the thatched roofs of the three-story, private Lord Krishna Middle School, said J. Radhakrishnan, the administrator for Thanjavur district, 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles) south of New Delhi, India's capital.

A police officer at a government hospital where the injured were being treated said at least 90 children had died. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

However, Radhakrishnan said 45 boys and 43 girls were confirmed dead and all the bodies, except one girl, had been identified.

A senior fire officer said all 23 teachers survived the blaze because they abandoned the children and fled to save themselves.

But a district government administrator said it was too early to lay blame, noting that some 700 children survived and their escape was likely aided by teachers.

Many local residents, however, drew their own conclusions as shock and disbelief gave way to anger.

"This was sheer murder," said M.A. Kumar, who sweeps the town's streets for a living.

"Those responsible for this must be hanged," 35-year-old Kumar said.

Residents said many schools in the town were in poorly designed buildings with narrow fronts and deep layouts. The use of firefighting equipment is virtually unknown.

The poor facilities are unacceptable, said R. Swaminathan, a 30-year-old shopkeeper. "These private schools take a lot of money from parents in the name of building facilities," he said.

A woman weeps at Kumbakonam General Hospital.
In the wake of Friday's fire, the state government has ordered safety inspections of all schools, Radhakrishnan said.

He said that when the fire began at 11 a.m., the building was packed with 800 students -- most aged 6 to 13 -- in rooms shared by up to six classes at a time. The thatched roof of a 20 by 40 foot (6 by 12 meter) concrete platform where noon meals were being cooked caught fire.

Nearby residents tried to douse the flames and rescue the children before firefighters arrived, a senior fire department official said. But the crowd of uncontrolled volunteer rescuers ended up blocking the main door as they tried to help.

By Friday evening, 45 bodies had been cremated in mass ceremonies, Radhakrishnan said. Several bodies were taken for cremations in nearby villages, where many children came from. The official lowered the number of injured -- earlier put at more than 100 -- to 22.

Eleven of the injured were hospitalized, one of them in critical condition, said Kumar, a doctor at the 390-bed government hospital, who uses only one name and is not related to the street sweeper..

The injuries of 10 students were not life threatening, Kumar said.

Doctors applied ointment on the bodies of the injured, and many parents asked nurses to cover the burned children with large banana leaves, according to a local belief that it soothes the skin.

"Though it is not clinically proven, it is a local custom and we are not preventing parents from covering their injured children with banana leaves," Kumar said.

Selvam, who uses only one name, cried inconsolably on Saturday as he was unable to find his 8-year-old son studying at the school 24 hours after the disaster.

The school's classrooms each had only one exit.
The school's long, narrow, windowless classrooms each had only one exit.

Television footage showed hundreds of small wooden stools toppled on the blackened floor, strewn with rubber slippers, shoes, schoolbags, notebooks, lunch boxes and clothes. Blackboards still bore traces of the lessons the children were learning.

Police locked the school building as they began investigating the cause of the fire.

Authorities said Friday they had arrested five people, including the school principal, Pulavar Palanichamy, his wife, Sarswati, and daughter, Shanthalakshmi, who helped run the school.

Two kitchen workers who were preparing lunch were also arrested and police charged the five with causing death by negligence. They can be jailed for up to two years each if convicted.

Four education department officials were suspended.

"This is entirely due to criminal negligence on the part of the school management and the district school authorities," said J. Jayalalitha, head of government in Tamil Nadu state, where the fire occurred.

I think that this is really horrible...it's terrible that it took all these children to die to make India inspect the safety of their schools, and I think it's horrible that 90 children died but not one of the Teachers did...because that shows how much they tried to help.

Galaxia21 · 07-17-2004, 06:42 PM

That's horrible. I think if I lived in India I would be looking into homeschooling my children from now on.

If teachers can't help their students in a crisis then they shouldn't be put in charge of the responsiblity of taking a child into their hands during the hours of school. I hope they get more than two years and they should definitely not be allowed to teach ever again.

India needs to make sure that there are several emergency exits available and they need to have a routine in what to do in case of a fire. It doesn't sound like they did at all. And well, if they did the teachers sure didn't hold to it by leaving their students to die.

As a mother I really feel for all those people and all I can wish for them is that the Lord helps with their suffering.

In Fair Verona · 07-17-2004, 10:48 PM

That is really utterly terrible. I really feel bad for the families of these students, they sent their kids to a private school probably trusting these teachers and now this... it's horrible.

A teacher needs to be an adult and risk their own life if necessary for these young student's lives.

Cail · 07-18-2004, 11:42 AM

It does sound very suspicious that none of the teachers died, but given the circumstances with only one exit, it's likely some teachers did try to help, but couldn't do anything.

I would really like to see the people who designed the school to be punished. There's absolutely no way to justify a windowless, one exit only classroom.

pacifierrocks · 07-18-2004, 09:09 PM

I can't believe that the teachers just fled the building without helping the students. You can't just leave children in a burning building.

xallyx · 07-18-2004, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cail
It does sound very suspicious that none of the teachers died, but given the circumstances with only one exit, it's likely some teachers did try to help, but couldn't do anything.

I agree. I wouldn't be so quick to believe that none of the teachers tried to help and that they simply 'fled'. It's unfortunate how it takes an incident like this for authoritites to realise the simple saftey measures they have to take.

Ice Queen follower · 07-20-2004, 06:23 AM

That is very sad and heartbreaking.

The teachers did wrong. No matter what a teacher is there to teach and protect you. They are an adult, they need to be there to *protect* the children and get them to safety, not run out screaming leaving a group of 6 year olds in a blazing fire to fend for themselves! Uh no that is just dumb! hello the slogan here for our schools is Children First I kinda figured all schools everywhere would think of that. But obvisiously not. I don't know who the blame should be put on, but it is just sad to see that those children didn't mean anything to those people.

Losing children is hard, I'm sorry for all those families who won't get their children back.

Semmer · 07-20-2004, 08:31 AM

That's extremely sad. I'm suddenly happy for all the fire drills we had to do in my school that I used to find annoying.

Elizajoey · 07-23-2004, 09:53 PM

This was extremely sad, not only because they are young and had their whole lives ahead of them but because of where it happened. Parents send their children to school in the belief that they will be safe and looked after efficiently.

It saddens me to think that teachers would do that. From reports I have heard when the fire crews arrived, there was no real adults or people in authority around. I know my school has a duty of care to ensure we dont come into danger. Yes, accidents do happen but if they do, the main thing is to ensure that everyone is safety brought to safety. I realise that it was a one fire exit school but a report I heard from a fireman who was first on the scene was that he believed that more children could have been saved if they had been someone in control and looking after their welfare.

It makes me realise how lucky I am when I am in school because of the concern the teachers have for us. I know some of my teachers say they feel like our class are their own children because they know us so well.

Quote:

That's extremely sad. I'm suddenly happy for all the fire drills we had to do in my school that I used to find annoying.

You did not like them?! Man, I adored them, at least because it was never a true fire. We were never warned whether they were real or not, only the senior staff at the school knew, so we would go to the safety locations and once we got there, we would always pray for our buildings and the school community that they were safe (Catholic school). I always found it funny that we prayed and it was just a drill - gosh the cynic in me did develop from a young age.

Sparrowhawk · 07-24-2004, 12:32 AM

I think it's really sorta premature to just blame the teachers. With the cramped nature of the school, and the fact that over 700 students out of 800 survived despite that, I'd say that a very high percentage survived despite the bad safety measures. Truly, I believe the teachers helped as they could, and I don't see how they could have helped get more out. As the article said, those that were trying to help only blocked the doorways.

I say it was a miracle that so many survived, and I don't blame the teachers at all. I believe they helped who they could, and couldn't help everyone. The parents are in shock and are looking for someone to blame.

*Kaylee* · 07-25-2004, 06:08 AM

That is just sad. The stupid teacher should have let the kids out and saved his students lives.

MalloryKeaton · 07-25-2004, 06:53 PM

I understand that the teachers didn't want to die, but I think it's awful that they didn't think of the children first. They were being selfish by leaving them behind.


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