日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

Indian school blaze kills at least 84
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-17 08:33

Flames swept through a thatch-roofed school Friday, trapping dozens of children who clawed at brick and concrete in vain to escape after many of their teachers fled. At least 84 children were killed and 22 injured.

For the burned children, big-city medical care was a five- to six-hour drive away, and some died awaiting treatment at the hospital in this southern Indian river town. Police, blaming officials at the private school for negligence, arrested the principal.


Police officers inspect the burnt remains in a school building in Kumbakonam, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) southwest of Madras, India, Friday, July 16, 2004. The fire killed at least 84 children and injured more than 100 others in a southern Indian Lord Krishna Middle School Friday, a local government official said. [AP]
No teachers died, and a senior fire officer said it was because they abandoned the children and ran from the burning school. But the district government administrator said it was too early to know, noting that about 700 children got out alive — probably helped by teachers.

More than 30 children survived with burn injuries, but many of them died awaiting treatment in the local government hospital, screaming in pain or lying unconscious in an emergency ward.

Doctors applied ointment to scalded bodies. Nurses placed large banana leaves — believed to be soothing — on the children's wounds. Parents, many crying, waved bamboo and plastic fans despite the air conditioning to cool inflamed skin. Hundreds more adults waited outside.

The fire started in a kitchen and jumped across the flammable roofs of the three-story school in Kumbakonam, a temple town in a fertile rice farming delta about 200 miles southwest of the southern city of Madras.


Fire engines arrive at the scene of a fire at a primary school in Kumbakonam in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nearly 84 children were burnt to death in the fire. [AFP]
The Lord Krishna Middle School, with students aged 6-13, had just resumed classes in early July after recess during May and June, India's hottest months.

J. Radhakrishnan, the school district administrator, said the fire erupted at 11 a.m. when the building was packed with 800 students in rooms shared by up to six classes at a time.

Local television showed dozens of small, blackened bodies with skeletal limbs laid out on the floor inside a large hall. They were burned beyond recognition, their clothes seared off flaking skin.

"As far as we can make out, the fire started in the kitchen of the school on the ground floor," Radhakrishnan told The Associated Press. "The sparks flying up would have set fire to the thatched roof on the first floor."

By Friday evening, 45 bodies had been cremated in mass ceremonies, he said. Several bodies were taken for cremations to villages nearby, where many children came from. The official lowered the number of wounded from 100 to 22, apparently because some children had only minor injuries.

The tragedy exposed the downside of India's "economic reforms" program, which saw a proliferation of ill-equipped private schools as the government cut spending on education to curtail its budget deficit.

Most private schools are in crowded buildings that often lack basic safety measures such as fire alarms and sprinkler systems. They rarely have playgrounds, athletic fields or open space.

At the Lord Krishna Middle School, the long, narrow, windowless classrooms each had only one exit. On the third floor, the main hall was crowded with students studying because of lack of classroom space.

The fire brought down the roof of bamboo logs and coconut leaves onto the children trapped inside. A reporter for New Delhi Television News described marks on the walls that she said showed the children tried to tear through the bricks and concrete in their desperation.

Afterward, hundreds of small wooden stools lay toppled on the blackened floor, strewn with rubber slippers, shoes, schoolbags, notebooks, lunch boxes and clothes.

Six blackboards bore traces of the lessons the children were learning. "Fill in the blanks," was written in chalk on one blackboard, asking the students to complete the spellings of words in the local Tamil language.

Police said they had arrested the principal, Pulavar Palanichamy, and intended to charge him with negligence leading to death. 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. Jayalalithaa, head of government in Tamil Nadu state, where the fire occurred.

Residents started dousing the flames and trying to rescue children before firefighters arrived, a senior fire department official said. Those efforts were apparently hampered by the school's narrow, steep stairs and few exits. The crowd of volunteer rescuers ended up blocking the main door as they tried to help.

"As soon as the fire started, the teachers had escaped, leaving the children behind," the official told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It was the local people who saved at least 80 children from the third floor before the roof came down."

M.B. Venkatesh, who lives nearby, said some children were killed in the stampede to escape. He said teachers had left after opening the front door, usually locked as is the custom of Indian schools to keep young children inside.

Radhakrishnan, the district's highest government official, said it might be premature to blame teachers, though police were investigating their role.

"As of now, it might be far-fetched to say that teachers escaped without protecting the children," he said. "After all, they escaped along with 700-odd children. That means they protected many children."



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Quarterly growth slowing slightly

 

   
 

Six Nobel winners named top science gurus

 

   
 

Indian school blaze kills at least 84

 

   
 

China to launch research station in Arctic

 

   
 

Extreme weather takes toll across nation

 

   
 

US to impose tariffs on Chinese products

 

   
  Indian school blaze kills at least 84
   
  Philippines pulls more troops from Iraq
   
  77 children dead in Indian school blaze
   
  Iraq PM announces formation of spy agency
   
  Spain: Europe's biggest terrorist threat is Morocco
   
  Blair loses one seat, nearly two, as Iraq bites
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
77 children dead in Indian school blaze
   
80 children killed in India school fire
   
Floods kill 40 in India, millions homeless
   
India's economy grows 8.2% in 2003-2004
  News Talk  
  Will Saddam Hussein get a fair trial?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产福利91精品一区二区三区 | 五月久久亚洲七七综合中文网 | 精品国产免费久久久久久 | 古装三级在线观看 | 初女破苞国语在线观看免费 | 亚洲日韩精品AV无码富二代 | 91精品国产一区二区 | 国产精品一级香蕉一区 | 欧美综合视频在线 | 超级碰碰碰视频在线观看 | 国产高清在线精品一区二区三区 | 欧美三级中文字幕hd | 免费黄色在线 | 99超级碰碰成人香蕉网 | 一道本视频 | 国产婷婷精品av在线 | 久久久久久久国产精品影院 | 日韩精品一区二区三区中文在线 | 国产亚洲精品久久久久久国 | 天天色综合社区 | 毛片毛片毛片毛片毛片 | 好看的中文字幕在线 | 中文成人在线 | 国产美女的小嫩bbb图片 | 精品国产理论在线观看不卡 | 欧美精品黄页免费高清在线 | 日出水了视频大全 | 黄色av电影在线播放 | 成人羞羞网站 | 日韩欧美国产精品 | 欧美日韩后 | 欧美激情一区二区三级高清视频 | 欧美特黄aaaaaaaa大片 | 一区二区在线免费观看 | 成人网在线播放 | 亚洲视频区| 精品久久久久国产免费 | 日本黄色大片免费看 | 波多野结衣一区二区三区在线观看 | 国产精品免费观看 | 日本高清色惰www在线视频 |