At least 15 people — most of them students — lost their lives Monday when a fire broke out at an animation training center in the city of Lucknow in northern India, according to authorities.
The blaze ignited in the Aliganj neighborhood of Lucknow, which serves as the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, according to local media reports.
Video footage from the scene showed uniformed personnel carrying bodies away from the building while onlookers gathered in the area.
Police said approximately 21 students were inside the facility when the fire started. Two of those students suffered serious injuries, while four others were reported to be in stable condition.
The facility provided animation training to its students, according to the state’s Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who spoke with reporters at the scene. He said investigators are working to determine what caused the fire.
The deadly incident comes weeks after a hotel fire in Delhi on June 3 claimed the lives of more than 20 people, including roughly a dozen foreign nationals. That earlier tragedy had already sparked widespread concern about fire safety standards in India’s national capital.
