Rajkot fire: 4 children among 27 killed in blaze; SIT arrests game zone owner, manager

The death toll in the Rajkot fire incident rose to 27 on Sunday. This includes four children, all of who are below 12. Assistant Commissioner of Police Radhika Bharai told reporters that the bodies were charred beyond recognition, making their identification difficult.

The deceased included four children, all of whom were playing inside the zone when the blaze caused the metal and fibre structure to collapse. Officials said the death toll is likely to go up.  

Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi, who visited the zone in the early hours of Sunday, said that one person is still missing after the tragic incident. "As per the information, one person is still missing and we are looking. We are deploying maximum teams for that," Sanghvi told reporters.

The government has handed over the investigation to a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Director General of Police Subhash Trivedi. "We will conduct a complete probe. We will go into the root of the matter, including who is responsible for the incident and the mistakes that led to the incident. We will also discuss how to prevent such incidents from happening in the future," Trivedi told ANI.

The SIT also includes Commissioner, Technical Education, BN Pani; Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Gandhinagar, HP Sanghvi; Chief Fire Officer, Ahmedabad, JN Khadia; and Superintending Engineer, Roads and Buildings Department, MB Desai.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said several people, including children, were inside the game zone, located on Nana-Mava Road when the tragedy struck. The fire caused the collapse of the structure, which affected the rescue operations. The fire tenders had to clear the debris before finding the bodies. However, the exact cause of the massive fire is not known.

Firefighters and locals douse a fire which broke out in a game zone in Rajkot | AP

Owner, manager arrested

The owner and the manager of the game zone were detained and taken to the police station for questioning.

The Gujarat Director General of Police has also instructed the officials to inspect all game zones in the state and to close the game zones running without fire safety permission. The DGP instructed that this procedure be carried out in coordination with the fire officers of the municipalities and municipalities and the local system.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi visited the accident scene on Sunday. Patel also visited injured people in the hospital. The government has also convened a meeting of heads of all departments who oversaw the game zone construction. The meeting will begin at Rajkot Collector's office by 3 pm.