Chandigarh: The worst tragedy struck the market town of Mandi Dabwali in district Sirsa of Haryana this afternoon when 312 persons, most of them school children, were burnt alive. Over 350 people, again most of them students of the DAV Public School, suffered grave burn injuries.

They have been shifted to hospitals in Sirsa (47). PGI Chandigarh (20), Ludhiana (10), Bathinda (30), Hisar and Abohar.

Unofficial reports however, received here put the death toll at 400.

According to information reaching here, the fire broke out around 2 pm at the Rajiv Marriage Palace which had been hired by the school management for the annual day function. A joyous function was turned into a tragedy.

Meanwhile Haryana Director General of Police Kalyan Rudra told PTI in Chandigarh that the cause of the devastating fire was a short circuit in the “kanat” of the shamiana where annual function of the DAV School Dabwali was being held.

The short circuiting on the roof of the tented structure led to the fire which quickly engulfed the nylon fabric of the tent This led to the collapse of the structure, Mr Rudra said adding some of the dead were electrocuted while others were asphyxiated.

Meanwhile, an LPG cylinder exploded as the fire spread engulfing the area, he said.

Some eyewitnesses said the fire broke out due to an acrobatic fire show by students of the school.

Mr Rudra said he was leaving for Dabwali for an on the spot assessment of the situation.

Deputy Commissioner Sirsa M.P Bidlan said he had left the place a little before 2pm along with other officers of the district as well as the Sub Divisional Magistrate.

The place was packed to the capacity with more than 1,200 people, including students, their parents, members of the staff and other participants.

SDM of Sirsa Mr Somnath Kamboj who suffered 90 percent burn injuries was rushed to Hisar hospital. where he succumbed to his injuries, while his wife died in the mishap.

Among the injured were the Deputy Superintendent of Police, his wife and daughter. They, along with 60 others seriously burnt cases, have been shifted to the PGI hospital here. According to PGl s senior doctors, emergency arrangements have been made to take care of the serious cases.

According to the local residents. the Rajiv Marriage Palace was over crowded with students and others. The tents rapidly caught fire and made the exit of the people nearly impossible. Unfortunately, there were no arrangements to fight the fire except the one municipal fire tender. He fire tenders, which were rushed from Abohar and Sirsa. could do little to mitigate the tragedy.

There were heart-rending scenes as a large number of burnt children and elders were crying for help. Relatives were rushing helter-skelter to locate their kith and kin.

Reports from Dabwali also said that social and political organisations are rushing all help and taking the injured to the hospitals.

The venue of the annual day function was totally gutted within an hour and the rescue operations became very difficult. The stampede that followed the fire crushed many small children.

Among those seriously injured were DSP Anil Yadav, his family and freedom fighter Gurdev Singh Shant, local politician Keshav Singh and journalist Jai Muni Goel, police added.

Sources said that the death toll was likely to go up further as the retrieval operations were still in progress at the site.

Senior district officials have reached Dabwali and were supervising rescue and relief operations there.

The local residents beelined at the hospital to donate blood for the injured, doctors said.

Two local philanthropists – Hanstaj Thutalia and Rahul Sethia have announced that they would bear full expenses for the treatment of the injured.

Meanwhile Union Minister of State for Education Selja rushed to Mandi Dabwali, which is her constituency.

It is indeed the worst tragedy that has struck Haryana. According to Additional Director General of Police H. Y Hari Shankar, who rushed to Dabwali along with police chief Kalyan Rudra. said “such a devastating fire has never broken out in the State it is too deep a tragedy for tears Small children have just been roasted alive.”

Information and Public Relations Secretary Anil Razdan said that Chief Minister Bhajan Lal expressed his heartfelt sympathy and rushed to Dabwali around 7pm. He said that initial reports were sketchy, but later the death toll was confirmed.

Divisional Commissioner. Hisar, has been asked to hold an enquiry into the incident He said that the government right now was more concerned with providing relief to the injured and helping those whose kin have died. Teams of doctors have been rushed from the Rohtak Medical College and the Hisar hospital to render emergency help.

The State Government has declared three days of State mourning. No public function would be held during this period.

The Haryana Chief Minister directed the Sirsa district administration to provide prompt medical aid to the injured and assured other necessary assistance to all the tragedy victims and their next of kin.

Condolences: Prime Minister P. V Narasimha Rao expressed sympathy to the victims and asked the State Government to provide immediate relief to the affected in the incident. HTC reports from New Delhi.

Human Resource Development Minister Madhavrao Scindia today deeply condoled the death of school children. He said he was deeply shocked at the massive tragedy which cut down so many young children and prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured.

President of the breakaway Congress N. D Tiwari today condoled the death of hundreds of innocent children and students at Dabwali, Sirsa in Haryana.

In a statement issued here today be said he was shocked to know about the ghastly tragedy involving so many children and it once again manifested the failure of human affairs to take due precaution on all such occasions where people or students congregated.

A delegation of his party headed by its general secretary Virender Singh is rushing to Dabwali for on-the-spot assessment of the situation.

Haryana Governor Mahabir Prashad and Punjab Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar expressed their deep sorrows and grief at the colossal loss of life in the tragedy. They sent their heart-felt condolences to the bereaved families.

The tragedy has sent shock waves across the State. Former Haryana Chief Minister and president of the Haryana Vikas Party Bansi Lal said that he shared the grief of the people in Dabwali in this hour of tragedy. He urged the Government to rush all possible help and appealed to the people and his party men to render total help ‘”It is a very very sad day for the people of Haryana,” he added