3 years of 95 School Children burnt to death
Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu in India), SVM News, July 18, 2007: It was on July 16, 2004, ninety five children, including 47 girls, all aged between seven and nine, were charred to death and 18 others sustained burn injuries in the fire mishap at Kumbakonam Sri Krishna Aided School near Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu in India.
An unattended stove under thatched roof, cramped, unventilated classrooms, locked gates and one narrow stairway - when the fire broke out at the school. There was just no way out for children trapped inside.
A team of the Christian missionary organisations called "Salem Voice Ministries" and the "Baseelia Foundation (for charities, child care and relief service)" visited Kumbakonam at the following day of the tragedy. They attended the funeral services of few children and visited the injured at the hospitals.
They distributed toys, soft clothes to wear over burnt bodies and medicines for the injured children and helped to bury some of the dead bodies too. Still they visit them often as a follow up ministry and sharing the love of Jesus Christ.
Last Monday, the 16th of July, the memorial day of the School fire tragedy, they have conducted a prayer service there. Rev. Paul Ciniraj, who also known as Sir Ciniraj Mohamed, the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries shared the Word of God.
Three years after the school kids were murdered, memories of the nightmare still haunt the town. The school has been shut and the school authorities are determined that no more lives will be lost due to lack of proper precautions.
“We need to get a certificate from the fire department every year. We have fire extinguishers on every verandah we teach our students the fire drill as well,” says headmaster of Town High school P.Soundararajan.
But what the authorities won't admit on camera is the fact that government schools in Kumbakonam are still ill-equipped to deal with disasters.
All schools have buckets filled with sand to counter fires and emergency exits. Students are also taught basic evacuation drill. But the latest fire fighting equipments are simply out of their reach.
Though survivors of the Kumbakonam school fire tragedy have overcome the trauma to some extent with grit and determination over the last three years, most of them are still scared even of the sight of fire.
While the burn injuries have healed, the scars remain as a cruel reminder of the gory incident.
Over the last three years, much water has flowed under the bridge and of the 18 students who sustained burn injuries, six of them named Mercy, Divya, Kausalya, Raghul, Rajkumar and Vijay have undergone plastic surgeries.
As 11 year old Raghul, who was in fourth standard then, suffered severe burn injuries and was confined to bed for more than a year, he could not pursue his studies for a year. He, however, is now back to school as he has recovered completely after undergoing plastic surgery thrice.
Though he is now in fifth standard in Sri Matha Matriculation School while his peers are studying in sixth standard in the same school, he has no regrets for being one year behind them.
"I have no regrets. I could not go to school for a year as I was confined to bed. Otherwise, I too would have now been in fifth standard along with them. My burn injuries have now completely healed but it pains when I stretch out my right leg. I want to study well and become an engineer,” he told.
According to his mother Selvi, Raghul is scared of fire even now. "In the initial few months, he used to be restless and would wake up in the midst of sound sleep and shout in midnight as he was suffering from trauma. Though now he is now back to normal, he is scared of fire and does not enter the kitchen," Selvi said.
Bhuvaneswari, Raghul's class teacher said, "he is good at studies; and also he is mingling with other students in the class very easily."
Seventy two students of Sri Krishna Aided School were admitted to Sri Madha Matriculation School and they are all good at studies, says vice principal C Vasantha.
"When they were admitted to our school after the tragedy, fee concession, free text books and uniforms were extended to them. Though they were suffering from trauma during the initial few months, they are now back to normal," Vasantha said.
And 18 mothers who lost their children to the flames have undergone recanalization. Two of them, Rosemary and Jayalakshmi conceived, they had a miscarriage in the fourth month.
As the tragedy occurred on a Friday, parents are observing fasting and prayers on Fridays. They do not eat anything on Fridays in memory of their loved ones and spending time for prayers. Evangelists of the Salem Voice Ministries conducting some of the prayers.
Life has moved on, but there's little relief for those who lost their children in the tragedy. A case of negligence filed against the teacher of Sri Krishna Aided School is still pending in the sessions court.
"We protested in Thanjavur outside the court but nothing happened. They made us sit for half-an-hour and sent us back," says the mother of a victim, Mariamma.
Mariamma's pain may be mitigated to an extent once the judgment is passed, but her loss and that of 94 other families are too personal and too large to be ever compensated.
SALEM VOICE MINISTRIES NEWS SERVICE (SVM NEWS)
Center for Persecuted Christians in India and third world:
