New Delhi - At least five girls were killed and 27 injured Thursday in a stampede in a water-logged school in New Delhi that was lashed by heavy rains, officials said. The stampede was triggered by rumours that an electrical current was running through the rainwater that flooded the school.
The incident took place in a government-run girls school in the Khajuri Khas area in north-eastern Delhi.
"Some children were asked to move down from the first floor and others were asked to go up," Dharmendra Kumar, joint commissioner of police in New Delhi, told reporters. "There was a stampede on a narrow stairway during the movement, but we do not know exactly what caused it [the stampede]."
Local news channels reported that classrooms in the school had been flooded because of heavy rains that had fallen in Delhi since Wednesday night.
The NDTV network reported that children were asked to vacate the rooms but panic set in after rumours went around that there was danger of electrocution in the ankle-deep water.
The children panicked and started running helter-skelter, leading to a stampede on the staircase, police officials told the IANS news agency.
Senior leaders, including Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, visited the injured children in a local hospital.
Monsoon rains pounded Delhi, leading many areas to become waterlogged and bringing traffic to a halt across the city.
People had a tough time reaching work as roads saw kilometres-long bumper-to-bumper traffic on arterial roads and key intersections.
Traffic lights were not working in many areas, adding to the woes of motorists.
According to the meteorological office, the city received more than 100 millimetres of rain since Wednesday night.
Weather officials said the heavy rains would continue in the region for the next two days.
The monsoon season in northern India usually lasts from late June to October.
