At least 16 students and an unidentified man were killed on Monday when a fire tore through a three-storey Lucknow building whose top floor houses a coaching institute and a library, eyewitnesses said.
Sources said classes were going on at the institute, which coaches students to crack engineering entrance tests, when the fire broke out early in the afternoon. It was not clear where the fire originated, but some claimed a possible explosion in an air-conditioner compressor.
Deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak said the students were aged 17 to 24.
The building at Purania in Lucknow city housed Animation Coaching & Library on the top floor, the Head Hopper Gaming Zone on the first floor, and a pet food store and clinic on the ground floor.
Sources said the terrace was locked, preventing the victims from taking shelter there from the flames and smoke. About a dozen students and others who had jumped off the building were being treated in hospital.
It appears that people from the two lower floors were able to escape in time.
Home department officials said the 10-year-old building lacked fire safety clearance.
A tearful Pathak said: "I counted 14 dead children…. They were aged 17 to 24. We have sent all the injured for treatment. We'll take the strictest action against those responsible."
Pathak later said two more students had died.
Three persons have been arrested so far.
An eyewitness said: “At least 17 bodies were brought out of the building in plastic bags on stretchers. Then the police drove us away. It appears the gaming zone and the coaching centre-library have the same owner.”
A neighbourhood shopkeeper said on the condition of anonymity that it took an hour for the fire tenders to arrive despite the station being only 1km away. He added that it took another two hours and a half to bring the blaze under control.
“The fire tenders had to completely douse the flames before the rescuers could get in with the help of ladders. Many students suffered injuries when they jumped off the building to save their lives,” he said.
“We saw smoke billowing out of the building and called the fire brigade around 12.45pm, but they arrived only at 1.45pm. They brought the fire under control around 4.15pm. The police arrived before the fire tenders, but they didn’t dare enter the building,” he added.
Barun Singh, a local man, said the State Disaster Response Force arrived around 3.45pm, broke a wall on the side of the building and brought the first dead student out at 4.35pm.
“Then, one by one, the other victims were brought out and each was taken away in a separate ambulance,” he said.
A woman seen crying during the rescue operation said: “My son is inside and I don’t know whether he is safe. I want to go in but nobody is allowing me. They told me that the compressor of an AC exploded, triggering the fire.”
Luv Preet, 28, an employee who had joined the coaching institute five months ago, was among those who jumped off the building.
“I don’t remember much but I jumped off the second floor along with some others. There was only one exit and we couldn’t cross it because it was completely engulfed in fire. The terrace was locked and we couldn’t go there,” he told reporters in hospital.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and defence minister Rajnath Singh visited the fire-ravaged building.