KUMBAKONAM, India, 19 July 2004 — Doctors battled yesterday to save the lives of survivors badly burned in a devastating school fire in southern India that killed 90 children.

Nearly 20 children are still in hospital in the little town of Kumbakonam which has been shrouded in gloom since Friday’s blaze.

“I had two hands. God has saved one, but I have lost the other,” cried a mother whose 10-year-old son died in the fire. Her 8-year-old daughter, Suzy Mary, survived.

Some children in a nearby government hospital had suffered 30 to 50 percent burns, and one of them was running a fever, senior district official J. Radhakrishnan told Reuters.

Authorities began counseling sessions for traumatized survivors yesterday.

Dozens of people marched silently through the town late on Saturday to demonstrate sympathy for the victims’ families and to press the state government to act against schools operating from makeshift premises.

They placed garlands and floral wreaths next to the entrance of the burned shell of the Sri Krishna School while black flags hung from its charred walls.

Some walls had gaping holes, made by children trying to escape the fire and by fire officials trying to save them.

Officials said about 700 children had managed to escape. The blaze began in a kitchen where lunch was being cooked, and then spread to the school’s palm-thatched roof.

Many children were trapped in a large classroom with one exit, and died after the blazing roof collapsed on top of them. Others suffocated to death as they tried to run down narrow staircases.

Angry residents and relatives turned on the teachers at the school, accusing them of having abandoned the building, leaving some of their charges behind.

Sonia Gandhi, president of the ruling Congress party, visited the town in the state of Tamil Nadu, and met the families of some victims.

“Loss of life is always a heart-breaking experience for the near and dear ones, but when it deals with the lives of children it is even more heart-breaking, even more tragic. We have to draw lessons from this tragedy,” Sonia told reporters.

Sonia said the government had sanctioned 10 million rupees ($217,700) in aid for victims’ families and 5 million to set up a fire safety project near Kumbakonam.

A day after the children’s bodies were buried or cremated, Selvam, who lost his 8-year-old son, was inconsolable.

He said his son, Lakshmanan, whose twin brother died at birth, had escaped the fire but went back for his books.

“My son had a few bruises on his leg but otherwise he was fine ... I spent the next few hours going back and forth between the hospital and school thinking everything was fine as far as my family was concerned.

“When I went back home at night I found my son was missing. I rushed to the school and somebody outside told me that my boy had gone back in to fetch his books,” he said.

Newspapers criticized the lack of fire safety arrangements and the fact that cooking was being done beneath a thatched roof.

Tamil Nadu has dozens of schools operating in makeshift buildings with thatched roofs. The state government has ordered them to shut down, newspapers and television channels reported.

Four officials in the education department were suspended after the blaze.

Police have arrested three members of the family that owned the school, including the headmistress, as well as the cook and lunch contractor. One teacher, who was hurt while helping the children escape, said: “What were the teachers doing? Not one of them was injured in the fire. And the school’s owners. What were they doing?

“There was no proper way for the children to escape. This is a scandal,” added Kotteeswaran, who lost his 8-year-old nephew in the fire.

Authorities said they had already arranged for many of the survivors to attend new schools. “We started the counseling sessions this morning. We will also help the students with uniforms and textbooks,” said a local government official.