Fire at Oasis school panics City CHILDREN RESCUED; DDC VISITS SPOT; HAILS VOLUNTARY EFFORTS Srinagar, Oct 3: It was a narrow escape for schoolchildren Thursday morning when fire erupted in Oasis Public High School, Gogji Bagh –triggering panic in this south City locality even as people rushed in for rescue operations, reports and witnesses said. Though the staff and students, particularly the preschool tiny- tots escaped unhurt, a building adjacent to the main complex housing the computer lab was damaged at Oasis, which has often been seen as a household name for pre-schooling in Srinagar. Senior officials including District Development Commissioner Er Farooq Ahmed Shah rushed to the spot and assured all support in immediate resumption of school work even as he said volunteers for the “exemplary rescue operations would be rewarded.” THE BLAZE Witnesses said at around 10: 30 AM fire erupted from the computer lab in the first floor of the building adjacent to the main school complex. As black smoke plumes rose up in the sky, and news spread like wildfire that school was on fire, people in the vicinity started running towards the spot for rescue operations while the Fire and Emergency Services Department teams too rushed in. A man in the neighborhood voluntarily threw open his residence gate to provide refuge to the children. Scared of the blaze at school, the children were crying bitterly as they were being shifted to the nearby residential house. Leave apart residents even those working in Gogji Bagh area didn’t stay behind. Razia Yousuf and Insha Shafi working at a nearby private firm left their work midway and rushed for the rescue. Finding the children weeping, the duo started consoling them and took others out from the campus on fire. In the meantime, Suraj Lama who works with nearby Jeet Tours and Travels was seen jumping from the smoked windows to save the tiny tots. CHAOS ON ROADS As the news of fire at Oasis spread further families of children studying there started rushing to the spot. Many could be been seen leaving their vehicles midway and running towards the spot. Emotional scenes were witnessed as parents and other family members hugged their loved ones to take them back home. Cuddled by his grandfather, a kid was talking to his mother on mobile phone to convey: “Mummy Mera (school) Bag Jal Gaya. (Mother my schoolbag was destroyed in the blaze).” DDC VISITS SPOT District Development Commissioner, Er Farooq Ahmed Shah who visited the spot hailed the efforts of firefighters, local volunteers and the paramilitary CRPF in the rescue operations. “It is such human efforts, which always remain priceless… But we need to appreciate them,” the DDC told Greater Kashmir adding due support would be offered to the school to resume the class work at an earliest given the fact that finals exams for various classes have begun. SCHOOL SPEAKS Downplaying the losses as the debris were being cleared, the school authorities said: “Our first priority remained the safety of children till they reached their homes… At the moment we cannot comment on the quantum of financial losses.” They however said the irony remained that even though fire-extinguishers were installed in the school nobody thought of using them. Meanwhile a school spokesman said the normal class work would resume from Monday October 7 whereas the classes for nursery students would start from October 10. CRPF JOINS RESCUE OPERATIONS Cutting across individual ideologies and duties, even the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) didn’t stay behind but rushed in for rescue operations. Witnesses said the CRPF men camping, and on deployment in the area, rushed to the spot lending a helping hand to the school staff and local volunteers in saving the children. In the meantime, some CRPF men rushed back towards their nearby camps and returned with buckets full of water and started dousing the blazes. Witnesses said personnel from 25 Battalion of CRPF instantly rushed into the school as it caught fire. In fact a senior official from the Battalion said its personnel from Charlie Company were first to reach the spot because of the proximity. “Our CRPF camp is just 100 yards away from the school. Our Jawans jumped into the flames and rescued children safely. And it was our people who called the firefighters,” the official told Greater Kashmir as his team was busy with the rescue. The Commandant of 17 Battalion CRPF Kishor Prasad along with Inspectors Kailesh Chand and Ved Prakash flanked by 40 personnel also joined in. “We tried our level best to save the children and thankfully our efforts worked,” Prasad said adding none of them cared for their personal safety but of the children.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 02:55:08 +0000
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