After battling for life for 12 hours, little Jayawardhan gave up in Osmania General Hospital (OGH) here around Friday midnight.
The five-year-old boy was rushed here on Friday with serious burns after he slipped into a dish of hot ‘sambaar’ while standing in the queue for mid-day meal in his school in Nalgonda district. Doctors said they tried their best but Jayawardhan died while undergoing treatment.
The tragic incident unfolded on the premises of Mandal Parishad Primary School of Eduluru village in Kattanguru mandal of Nalgonda, 98 km from here, around 12.15 p.m. on Friday. The school had a strength of 201 students in classes first to fifth.
Since the open place for serving mid-day meal was not spacious, teachers wouldn’t send students of all classes at once for lunch break. In first standard, there were about 91 students. They were divided into sections A and B.
First standard students lined up to collect their meal. “Classes for other students were going on,” a school teacher told The Hindu over phone narrating the incident. On Friday, eggs were served. As per norm, students would first collect sambaar, rice, egg and go to their places for lunch.
“For some reason, suddenly there was some jostling by students. Jayawardhan, who stood close to the vessel of sambaar, slipped and fell into it,” the teacher said. A woman volunteer standing there immediately pulled out the boy.
But by then, the kid suffered burns on his stomach and limbs. He was rushed to a local Registered Medical Practitioner for first aid and then taken to Nalgonda district headquarters hospital in 108 ambulance. As his condition deteriorated, the boy was shifted to OGH.
Nalgonda District Collector Gaurav Uppal came to the OGH and inquired about the treatment. By midnight, Jayawardhan succumbed to the burns. The government suspended Uma and Murali Krishna, Headmistress and teacher respectively of the school for ‘their negligence’ in the incident.
