In a tragic incident, 21 teenage students, including 16 girls, were killed in a massive fire which engulfed a coaching centre in Sarthana area of Gujarat’s Surat. While some were suffocated, others jumped to their death from the top floor of the four-storey commercial complex where the coaching centre was located.
Preliminary investigation in the incident has revealed that the coaching centre was illegally constructed at the top floor of the building. The police have registered an FIR against three people, including the builders of the complex and the owner of the coaching centre.
Following the terrible incident, Gujarat government has ordered a fire safety audit of all the schools, hospitals, malls and other commercial buildings to check whether they have proper equipment and facilities to deal with such incidents.
"We have already ordered an inquiry into the incident. To avoid such tragic incidents, I have asked officials to conduct fire safety audit of all schools, colleges, hospitals, malls and other commercial buildings. We will check if they have proper firefighting equipment," Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who visited the site, told reporters.
According to the eye-witnesses, there were around 40-50 students in the complex when the fire started from the ground floor and reached the top floor in no time, forcing some students to jump off the building to escape the fire and smoke.
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