7 more bodies found in Gujarat school, toll 11

With the recovery of seven more bodies of children on Saturday at Tichakpara village the death toll in Friday’s school building collapse has gone up to 11.

With the recovery of seven more bodies of children on Saturday at Tichakpara village the death toll in Friday’s school building collapse has gone up to 11. Fourteen girls have been injured.

Repairs in the school for tribal children in Tichakpura village, 90 km from Surat, have been pending for over a month now. They would have cost the State exchequer a mere Rs 1 lakh.

A day later, students were still to recover from their shock. Manisha Choudhary, an eighth standard student, who survived the mishap, said: “We were on the stairs. Some of us were rushing down when the staircase started shaking. In a matter of seconds, the staircase crashed on top of the hostel gallery.”

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With the building’s only staircase collapsing, about 280 girls were trapped inside the hostel building. Panicking, the girls threw their belongings into the school compound.

On Saturday morning, the building bore tell-tale marks of fear and chaos. The inner compound was scattered with shoes and bedsheets and clothes were hanging from balconies. The girls had taken the help of these to get down to the ground floor.

State Education Minister Anandi Patel said: “We are devastated. I have received information from the chief minister that an inquiry commission has been set up with representatives from the Civil Engineering Department of Surat’s SVNIT Engineering College and Vadodara-based Gujarat Engineering and Research Institute (GEERI),’’ she told mediapersons.

“The building (built with a government grant in 1994) did have problems and I had approached the PWD deputy collector several times about the matter. They had last photographed the building on December 30,” school principal R D Choudhary said.

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Surat Division executive engineer for PWD (roads and buildings) H V Divakar said he had not heard of the inquiry panel being set up. “See, it could be some problem with the ground surface. Our quality control officials will also conduct a survey of the school grounds and give their opinion,’’ said Divakar. The state government has decided to pay Rs 1.5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 25,000 to those injured. Agencies which assisted in rescue operations will be paid Rs 5 lakh and a sum of Rs 4 lakh will be set aside for reconstructing the building. Police are collecting statements and details of the accident to decide whether they will file a case of death or criminal negligence.