Kashmir Impulse Desk

Anantnag, May 12 

A 15-year-old student was killed and three others injured after a fire broke out at a seminary in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district early on Monday, officials said.

The blaze erupted around 1:30 a.m. at Faizan Baba Hyder Reshi Darul Uloom in the Old Mattan Adda area of Anantnag town, triggering panic among dozens of students staying in the hostel facility.

Personnel from the Fire and Emergency Services department, assisted by local residents, carried out rescue and firefighting operations and evacuated several students from the building, officials said.

Four students sustained burn injuries and were taken to Government Medical College Anantnag for treatment.

One of the injured students, identified as Bilal Ahmad, 15, a resident of Warwan Valley in Kishtwar district, later died from his injuries, officials said.

The other injured students were identified as Sabit Fayaz and Sahil Ahmad, both from Sangaldan in Ramban district, and Irfan Ahmad from Pahalgam.

Doctors at the hospital said the condition of the injured students was stable.

Deputy Commissioner Bilal Mohi-ud-Din Bhat and Senior Superintendent of Police Amod Ashok Nagpure visited the site of the incident and later met the injured students at the hospital.

Religious scholar Maulana Abdul Rashid Dawoodi and leaders from various political parties also visited to express solidarity with the affected families.

Police registered a case and launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.

Officials said preliminary findings suggested the blaze may have been caused by a short circuit and spread rapidly due to cooking gas cylinders stored inside the building.

Eyewitnesses said the fire appeared to originate from the rooftop section of the largely wooden structure before engulfing the upper floor.

“The students ran out in panic, but some got trapped in the flames and sustained burn injuries,” an eyewitness said.

Officials said more than 40 students, most from remote areas, had been residing at the seminary hostel.

Separately, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Anantnag called for a safety audit of all Darul Ulooms and other residential facilities housing children in the district following the incident.

In a directive issued to the district administration, the committee said repeated fire and related incidents at such facilities required “immediate and concrete intervention” to safeguard children.

Citing provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the committee said authorities should ensure that children were protected from harm and urged the formation of a panel to conduct safety audits and recommend preventive measures.

The order was also forwarded to the Mission Director of Mission Vatsalya Jammu and Kashmir and the District Child Protection Officer in Anantnag.