Muzaffarnagar: 11 children suffer burns after fire breaks out at madrasa

The children were rushed to a government hospital in Muzaffarnagar from where they were referred to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel hospital, a unit of the Meerut Medical College, here in the wee hours of Friday.

“It was an accident and hence no FIR has been lodged. The refrigerator exploded after it caught fire from the candle,” Anil Kaparwan, in-charge of Kotwali police station in Muzzafarnagar, told The Indian Express.

“I was sleeping in the adjacent room and was awakened to the children crying. They should have put out the candle before going to sleep,” Arif (24), the in-charge of Jamia Arabia Ashraful Madarsa, where the incident took place, reportedly told Kaparwan. The children who have suffered injuries are Mohammed Samir (12), Asif (13), Sonam (12), Muskaan (13), Shahjama (11), Muddasir (15), Farman (11), Arish (14), Adeem (12), Rehan (7) and Azim (14).

“The victims were brought here at around 3 am with burns ranging from 60 to 95 per cent. They were given primary treatment at the trauma centre and have been admitted to the burns ward,” said Adeep Khan, junior resident doctor at the hospital. Samir, who received around 95 per cent burns, has been referred to Safdarjung Hospital in New Dehli late Friday evening.

“My son was sleeping very close to the fridge when it exploded and sustained maximum injuries. I have been told that the students in the madarsa had lit a candle because of power failure last night. There was a heap of card boards placed near the fridge that caught fire from the candle and at around 11pm there was a loud explosion,” Mohammed Chota (38), father of Samir, said.

“The medical treatment have so far been satisfactory but we cannot say anything on their survival chances. The impact of the fridge explosion was such that at least four children could hardly be recognised,” said Mohammed Salim (45), father of Farman, a resident of Kheda Mastaan village in Muzaffarnagar.