Global News

At least 19 teenage students – most of them females – were killed when a fire broke out in a tutoring centre in a four-storey commercial building in the city of Surat in India‘s western state of Gujarat, officials said.

“The toll has jumped to 19 and includes 16 females. Sixteen persons died because of burns and three others from injuries after they jumped,” Jayesh M Patel, medical officer at Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research, told AFP news agency.

Television footage broadcast on Friday by local media showed people jumping off the top floor of the Takshashila building or trying to escape by climbing down, as thick smoke billowed out.

Most of the dead were students who had been attending class in the building, according to the spokesman for the office of Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

The Press Trust of India news agency said the fire engulfed the third and fourth floors of the building, which is located in a shopping district. The cause of the fire was not yet known.

Police officer Praveen Chaudhary said more than a dozen students were hospitalised with burns.

“The fire started near the staircase, so they could not get down,” Joint Commissioner of Police Harikrishna Patel said, adding that all of the dead were younger than 20.

The blaze, likely caused due to an electrical short circuit, started around 4 pm local time (1030GMT) and spread rapidly, Patel added.

Television footage showed people trying to grab hold of a large banner on the side of the building as they plummeted down.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/southasia/2019/05/india-fire-tutoring-centre-kills-17-students-190524172851411.html