About the incident

Kumbakonam school fire accident happened in a school in Kumbakonam town in Thanjavur district in
Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The students of the primary section of the Krishna English Medium School
were burnt to death in their classroom. The incident occurred on 16th July 2014.

• The cause of incident is was the that caught fire. The accident was the one of the four major fire
accidents and largest school accident in Tamil Nadu, and second in terms of casualties for fire incidents
in schools in India. In the memory of the children every year 16th July, the event called Motcha Deepam
takes place in the evening in Kumbakonam. Memorial hall and Children's park was set on the banks of
Cauvery in Palakkairai in the memory of the children those who were dead in the fire accident.

The school building

There were three schools namely, Sri Krishna Aided Primary School, Saraswathy Nursery and Primary
School and Sri Krishna Girls High School, operating in the same building in Kasiraman street in
Kumbakonam in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The major reason for the heavy casualty is the false tactics of the management to bring the other two
school students to the aided primary school to mislead the inspecting authorities about the student-
teacher ratio. The school was located amidst residential buildings, 15 m (49 ft) away from a roadthe
classrooms were located.

The classrooms did not have any partition and at the end of the classrooms, there was a stage on the
northwest side of the stage was the noon meal kitchen and a cycle stand, both of which were thatched
structures. The buildings in the nursery and primary schools had no ventilation.

Near the eastern entrance, there was a narrow staircase 4.5 ft (1.4 m) leading to the first floor of the
building. The lower end of the class on the western side was connected to the noon meal kitchen
thatched roof and the cycle stand roof, where the accident occurred.

The Sri Krishna Girls High School had 179, Sri Krishna Aided Primary School had 477 and Saraswathy
Nursery and Primary School had 126 student in its roles, totalling to a strength of 782 students.

The Tragedy

The fire sparked from the midday meal kitchen thatch and spread to the upper level, which also had
thatched roofs and spread rapidly. The narrow staircase had sundry material, that prevented exit of
children. The staircase was also close to the kitchen. The kitchen did not have gas stoves and fire logs
were used for cooking. The school was overcrowded, having 900 children in its roles.

The fire service was informed at 11 a.m. and the personnel arrived in a few minutes. But since they were
unprepared for such large scale fire, the rescue services were not that effective. Three classes in the
ground floor close to the kitchen - the northern segment of the first floor also had only thatched
structure.

All the thatched structures were contiguous and rested on one another. In a matter of minutes, the fire
which was fanned by strong winds rose to the first floor thatch and totally destroyed the structure
The thatch and the bamboo poles supporting it caught fire and fell on the children. It effectively blocked
the only way out, namely, the passage through the collapsible gate and cut off the means of escape. The
locals rushed to help.

The casualties

94 Children below age of 10 years old were dead in the accident. And 18 children were injured in
stampede. The main reason for such a heavy casualty was the packing of the aided primary school with
children from the other two schools to mislead the inspecting authorities into believing that the teacher-
student ratio was correct and the attendance for the noon meal centre was true.

There were over 800 students studying in the three schools; there was only one entry point, which was
also narrow. Some teachers did not make any attempt to rescue the children, but escaped from the
scene.

As there was only one exit gate, it was not possible to save more children. If only there had been
another exit it might have been a different story and in any event the casualty would have been much
less

The cause

To have a fire three things are needed: (a) air (b) fuel and(c) a source of ignition. Fire was sparked by dry
coconut leaves used as firewood in a thatched shed used as a noon meal kitchen. Thanks to strong
winds, spoken to by Anuradha, the kitchen fire rose so high that the thatched roof of the first floor class
rooms caught fire and as already noted the blazing roof supported by bamboo poles gave way and
collapsed on the children.

Though the school did not satisfy the norms required for upgradation, still for some extraneous reasons
it was permitted to be upgraded first as middle school and then as high school. There was total lack of
implementation and enforcement of existing laws and safety standards for schools. It was not an
accident of fate, but an accident on account of utter disregard of rules for safety. It was an accident
waiting to happen.

The school did not have enough doors and windows to help the children to run out. Open terrace was
converted into class rooms by erecting a thatched roof Infrastructure. In the schools the infrastructure
was poor. The staircases and passages were narrow. Ventilation - air and light were practically non-
existent admit of no doubt. No fire fighting facilities and services were provided.

Rescue operation

The fir service were at the site within minutes. Even at that time the fire was blazing. They put out the
fire and also joined others in the rescue operation. They and the general public broke the cement jolly of
the building and made a valiant attempt to rescue the children huddled there. Unfortunately, they were
unprepared for the size of the task and sadly many of the children who were caught under the fire had
died.