Media shocked over school blaze

The school lacked fire safety equipment

The horror of Friday's devastating school fire in which scores of children were killed is being relived by the Indian media.

All of them have carried the news as their top story, many with graphic pictures of the tragedy.

The Hindu carries a note from its editor on the front page, acknowledging that some of the photographs could distress readers.

"However, the enormity and nature of the calamity makes such visual news presentation unavoidable," it said.

Many newspapers illustrated the scene inside the now burnt school.

Inside one classroom, The Indian Express reports, the word "separation" was written on the blackboard, part of an English lesson.

While the street is barely wide enough to accommodate two cars at a time, the school building itself is a fireman's nightmare The Hindustan Times

"That word still remains on the blackboard even now. But most of her students are gone," it says.

Burnt books and lunchboxes lay littered on the floor all charred black.

"As if in mourning-like the entire temple town of Kumbakonam today," the Express said.

Blame

Some newspapers alleged the teachers were among the first to flee, instead of staying back to help the children.

Others said that an order to stay in their seats and not panic had been fatal for many of the students.

"The teacher's command now appears to be the main reason why so many children were ultimately trapped in the inferno," says The Telegraph.

The fire sends a chilling message on the state of school infrastructure The Indian Express Chaos and grief Have Your Say

Others blamed the lack of safety equipment and procedures in and around the school.

"The fire sends a chilling message on the state of school infrastructure and the absence of any regulatory apparatus," writes The Indian Express.

"The Kumbakonam school is a textbook example of what a school should not be. It had no emergency exits and despite a thatched shed for a classroom on the second floor, no fire extinguisher was kept in the building," it adds.

The Hindustan Times said a major reason for the high death toll was the narrow escape route.

"While the street is barely wide enough to accommodate two cars at a time, the school building itself is a fireman's nightmare," it says.

The Times of India adds that the main entrance was locked at the time of the fire.

Kumbakonam this evening was a town of wailing mothers accompanying their husbands who carried dead children The Telegraph

"Had they kept the main gate open, chances of my daughter and her friends escaping were high," The Times quoted the mother of one of the dead children as saying.

Grief

But the newspapers also chose to simply replay the grief in a town that could not come to terms with what had happened.

"The wailing for the dead rang out and hospitals saw harrowing scenes of parents and relatives of the victims weeping inconsolably," reports The Pioneer.

"Kumbakonam this evening was a town of wailing mothers accompanying their husbands who carried dead children wrapped in a [shroud] on their shoulders for cremation," wrote The Telegraph.

The mood was summed up by The Hindustan Times.

"The Tamil Nadu authorities have been shaken out of slumber following the school fire. But nothing can bring back to life the little ones who died a terrible death on Friday."