Surat/Gandhinagar: The toll in the tragic Surat fire incident has gone up to 23 and at least 7 injured are still admitted in hospital.

Police has arrested one Bhargav Butani who operated the drawing and art classes in which the fire had broken out.

The probe of the matter has also been started by the ACP of crime branch in Surat. A case under section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide) has also been lodged in this matter.

The fire broke out at around 4 pm yesterday in the Smart design Studio in Sarthana area of the city where children attended drawing and art classes. It was situated on the third to top floor of a ground and 3 storied building Takshila Arcade. As there was only one entry in to the studio which was blocked due to the fire which spread quickly due to the wooden floor and wall work in it, at least a dozen of the 40 odd children trapped inside jumped off the terrace and half of them died. Tragically it all happened in front of a large crowd and some of the guardians of the children. The drawing classes was on the third floor while a gym was on the second floor. Some charred bodies were recovered from inside. Disturbing videos of the incident showing panicked children jumping to death of the roof had also emerged. There were no proper fire safety norms followed in the building. Two shops and around a dozen two wheeler parked below were also gutted at the fire caused another fire in the electric wires and pole situated nearby. The place of occurrence was close to zoo.

The reason behind the deadly fire was not yet known. It is understood that it started due to short circuit in a sweet-meat shop in the same building. In the same city two lives were lost some time ago in another fire in the city in a tuition classes.

CM Rupani had visited Surat in the wake of the incident.

Meanwhile in the wake of the incident, checking for fire safety norms in coaching classes, hospitals and other buildings in various towns and cities of the state was going on today. Many of these building including a reading library in capital Gandhinagar have also been sealed. Around 40 coaching classes in Bharuch and several others at other places have also been sealed.

DeshGujarat