90 kids dead in school blaze- teachers left them all...

[Renegade7]

Amazing no one posted this... gutless these teachers.:mad:

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.

woman weeping

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.

building

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.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.