Fire at training centre in India's Lucknow kills at least eight, police say

NEW DELHI: At least eight people were killed in a fire at an animation training centre in Lucknow city in northern India on Monday, authorities said.

Local media said the death toll was higher and put it at 14, adding that they were mostly students.

The fire broke out in the Aliganj area of Lucknow, the capital of India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, NDTV reported.

Television visuals showed a group of men rushing towards a falling person. The person jumped from the first floor of the building which was engulfed in flames, they reported.

Television visuals also showed a group of men in uniform carrying bodies as a crowd gathered nearby.

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“This is a major incident, it’s very saddening,” the state’s Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak told reporters.

The centre taught students to create animation, Pathak said.

“Anguished by the loss of lives in a fire mishap in Lucknow … My condolences to the bereaved families,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office said in a post on X.

The incident comes weeks after a fire at a hotel in Delhi killed more than 20 people, including over 10 foreign nationals, raising concerns over fire safety norms in the national capital.