New Delhi:
A day after five students of a government school in East Delhi died due to a stampede, questions are still being asked as to what exactly happened. Six children are still in a critical condition in hospital.
The staircase of the school turned into a death trap for the children. And all this happened because it lacked the basic norms like proper lighting and railing for support.
These things could have saved the students.
The building on the other side was flooded with over night rains, so children were asked to move into that building. According to the watchmen, 2,000-2,500 children were in school and were made to run up these stairs, which are about four-five feet wide.
Akriti who studies in Class X is among the 30 injured brought unconscious to the hospital. Twenty four hours later she is ready to go home with a fractured leg and some scary memories.
"We were going upstairs when the boys pushed us. We were asked to go upstairs by the principal. After that I don't remember what happened," she said.
So far five students have been discharged, but over 25 are still in hospital, some of them critical.
"Of the six critical students, two showed stability on Thursday. Two more are stable now, but two others are still critical," said Dr OP Kalra, Medical Superintendent, GTB.
It took parents hours to meet their injured children in hospital. Now they want to know what triggered the stampede.
"School authorities should know the reason. They are hiding it from us," said the mother of one of the victims.
School authorities chose not to comment, but a govern probe is already under way.
"Only those who have lost their children can understand the pain," said a survivor's father.
The probe findings will mean little to the those who have lost their children; others hope the school learns some lessons.