3 girls killed in Rajkot camp fire

Our Correspondent

Ahmedabad, January 13

Three girl students were killed and 21 others injured in a devastating fire at a camp held under the aegis of Vaidik Ashram at Pransla near Upleta in Rajkot district of Saurashtra region, Gujarat, last night.

But for the presence of CISF and NDRF forces, who had come to give training in firefighting and other self-defence operations and stayed back at the camp for the night halt, the casualty would had been much heavier.

The 10-day “Rashtrakatha Camp”, an annual feature of the ashram, this year was attended by about 10,000 girl students from different schools in Gujarat. But today being the last day, only about 300 girls were in the camp for the last night halt. Some witnesses said some girls had removed LED lamps and were charging their mobile phones in sockets when fire broke out due to short-circuit.

Aided by strong winds, the fire spread quickly, totally destroying about 60 of around 100 tents in the camp. Two girls were caught in the fire while asleep and another, who had returned to her tent to save her belongings, was killed too.

Fire engines from Upleta, Dhoraji, Rajkot, Porbandar and other nearby towns rushed to the spot while the CISF and the NDRF jawans halting in the camp in an adjacent compound managed to pull down the tents to bring the situation under control. The deceased belonged to schools in Morvi, Sayala and Dhrangadhra towns in the Saurashtra region. The injured girls were being treated at the Rajkot civil hospital.