Guj: Over 500 children rescued after blaze erupts at Vadodara school

The fire rescue personnel managed to evacuate over 500 children safely from the main and emergency exits of the building using a ladder. Only one student sustained a minor knee injury in the entire operation, said an official.

Vadodara: Over 500 children were evacuated safely after a fire broke out due to a short circuit, enveloping a multi-storey school building in thick smoke in Gujarat's Vadodara city on Friday, an official said. He added that the blaze erupted at Phoenix School in the Makarpura area of the city in the morning.

"At the time of the fire, secondary and higher secondary students were in their classrooms," Jaydeep Gadhvi, a sub-fire officer of Makarpura fire station, said. The school was a ground-plus four-storey structure and each floor had four air-conditioned classrooms, said Gadhvi.

He said he responded to the distress call and arrived at the spot with his men around 9.30 am. "We quickly realized that a short circuit in the MCB switchboard on the third floor has caused the fire. Though the blaze was minor, thick smoke had covered the entire third floor," he explained.

"While students of first and second floor managed to come out in time, students on third and fourth floors were stuck, as there was zero visibility," the official said. Using breathing apparatus sets, two firemen entered the building and doused the blaze on the third floor and then opened the windows to clear the smoke, he added.

"After the smoke cleared, we evacuated over 500 children safely from the main and emergency exits of the building using a ladder. Only one student sustained a minor knee injury in the entire operation," Gadhvi said. (With agency inputs)