Indian families mourn school fire deaths

KUMBAKONAM, India -- Parents of the dead went home, silently weeping. Others sat in the sun Saturday outside a hospital, hoping their children will survive burns they suffered in a school fire in southern India that killed 90 children.\nMany were the first in their families to go to school, escaping generations of illiteracy in this country, where one-third of more than 1 billion people still can't read or write.\nThe fire Friday at the private Lord Krishna Middle School was sparked by dry coconut leaves used as firewood at a makeshift kitchen, which prepared free food subsidized by the government.\nWhile poor, Indian families have increasingly come to rely on private schools, paying a tuition fee that ranges from $5 to $100 a month.\nTens of thousands of ill-equipped private schools have mushroomed across Indian towns and cities in the past decade, as the cash-strapped government cut spending on education and stopped building additional schools to curtail its burgeoning budget deficit.\nPublic schools, while often better equipped than their private counterparts, can be miles away, and impossible to reach on foot.\nAlmost all of the children at Lord Krishna Middle School came from poor families, and the grieving parents included menial laborers, shopkeepers, low-paid government servants and villagers.\n"I have lost everything I had," said Simon Anthony Dass, a porter, who lost both his sons -- 15-year-old Aravind and 9-year-old Anish Kumar. Dass had never been to school, and had hoped his children would have a brighter future.\nHe said witnesses told him Aravind had initially escaped, but returned to the burning building to rescue his younger brother. Both died.\nBy Friday evening, 45 bodies had been cremated in mass ceremonies. The rest were cremated Saturday.\nMany injured were still being treated at the town's 390-bed, government-run hospital.\nResidents of Kumbakonam, 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles) south of New Delhi, India's capital, demanded action against the culprits.\n"This was sheer murder," said M.A. Kumar, who sweeps the town's streets for a living. "Those responsible for this must be hanged."\nPolice arrested five school officials: the principal; his wife, who is part of the school's management; his daughter, who helped run the school; and two kitchen workers. They were being held on negligence charges.\nIn the wake of Friday's fire in Tamil Nadu state, its top elected official, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, ordered safety inspections of all schools in the state. Most of these schools are located in crowded buildings that often lack basic safety measures, such as fire alarms and sprinkler systems. They rarely have playgrounds, athletic fields or open space.\nAt Lord Krishna school, its long, narrow, windowless classrooms each had only one exit. The flames jumped quickly to the thatched roofs of the building, and many children were unable to escape.