Four children were among 27 people killed when a fire in India ripped through a crowded amusement park, a local official said yesterday, as rescuers scoured the site the morning after the blaze.
Survivors reported having to kick down doors and leap out of windows to escape the inferno that swept through a center packed full of young people enjoying games such as bowling, Indian media reported.
Lines of bodies draped in white cloths were laid out before being taken away from the center in Rajkot, a city in the western state of Gujarat.
Photo: AP
The four children reported dead were all under the age of 12, police said.
The local Rajkot government said in a statement that forensic officers were “collecting DNA samples from the remains,” as “the bodies have been charred beyond recognition.”
Outside the still-smoldering wreckage of the park, the mother and sister of 20-year-old Asha Kathad — who had worked in the center — waited for news.
They held up a photograph of Asha on a mobile phone.
“We don’t have any information about her,” Asha’s mother told local reporters, too distraught to give her full name as she wept.
More than 300 people were enjoying the summer holiday weekend in the two-story structure at the TRP amusement and theme park when the blaze broke out on Saturday evening, Rajkot fire officer Ilesh Kher told reporters on the night of the fire.
“People got trapped as a temporary structure at the facility collapsed near the entrance, making it difficult for the people to come out,” he said.
The flames spread rapidly because of the structure’s flammable material, he added.
“The toll in the fire incident is now 27,” top local government official Prabhav Joshi said. “Police have arrested two persons and the investigation is continuing.”
Survivors recalled their horror as they struggled to flee the fire.
“We were bowling when two staff members told us there was a fire on the ground floor and we should leave. The area was soon full of smoke,” Pruthvirajsinh Jadeja told the Indian Express newspaper.
“We tried to escape from the rear door, but couldn’t. I saw a beam of light coming from outside. I kicked down the tin sheet and five of us made our way out, jumping from the first floor,” he said.
Also on Saturday night, a fire in India’s capital ripped through a children’s hospital, killing six newborns, with passersby charging into the burning building to pull out the other newborns from the ward.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS