Takshashila Fire, Surat: How 22 Students Were Trapped and What Went Wrong

On 24 May 2019, a fire broke out at Takshashila Arcade in the Sarthana area of Surat. A coaching class was running on the top floor, full of teenagers. The only staircase filled with fire and smoke within minutes, and several students jumped from the building because there was no other way out. Twenty-two young people died.

This is what happened, what went wrong, and what parents, students and coaching-class owners can check today.

The building

Takshashila Arcade was a four-storey commercial building, with coaching centres on the third and fourth floors. The top floor was a makeshift dome-like structure with plastic walls and a plastic roof. The ceiling was only about five feet high, and students sat on seats made from old tyres. The staircase was wooden.

So the room where most of the children sat was built from things that burn easily, under a low roof that would fill with smoke very quickly, with one way down.

How the fire started and spread

Reports on where the fire started differed. A preliminary state report by Urban Development Principal Secretary Mukesh Puri said it began with a spark in an air-conditioner compressor fitted between the first and second floors. A vertical display panel and a flex banner then carried the flames up to the coaching class (PTI, 28 May 2019). Some early accounts placed the start on the ground floor near the rear staircase, or at a second-floor studio.

Wherever it began, the fire climbed quickly and blocked the staircase. Students pushed back to the terrace and the windows. With the stairs gone and smoke all around, many of them jumped from the top floor.

The students inside

Eyewitnesses said between 50 and 70 students were in the building when the fire started. The final reported toll was 22, most of them students. Early reports put it at 19 to 20, and it rose as injured students died in hospital. Those who survived were left with serious injuries and deep emotional trauma.

What survivors said

Two 15-year-old survivors described those minutes to reporters soon after the fire:

• Urmila Patel, 15: “We were on the fourth and top floor. Suddenly, there was smoke all around. We found it extremely difficult to breathe. We shouted for help…I called out for my mother and rushed toward the only staircase. But stairs were also engulfed in fire…Like all others, I and my other friend rushed back to the room…we had no option but to jump. I saw others jumping off and followed them.”
• Happy Panchali, 15: “What I experienced was hell. I do not know for how long I was in the building and what made me jump off. All I remember was everyone was crying for help. After jumping off, I thought I was dead.”

Rescue and the investigation

It took about an hour to bring the fire under control. Local residents helped with the rescue.

The Chief Minister ordered a probe and announced ₹4 lakh in aid for each family that lost a child. An FIR was filed against three people, including the builders of the complex and the owner of the coaching centre. ETV Bharat reported on 31 May 2019 that two fire officers had been held for negligence.

In July 2019, Surat Police filed a 4,271-page chargesheet naming 14 people. Eleven of them had been arrested and three were declared absconding (ANI, 22 July 2019).

What went wrong

• One way out. The top floor depended on a single staircase. Once that was on fire, there was no second route down.
• Things that burn, everywhere. Plastic walls and roof, tyre seats, a wooden staircase, a flex banner and a display panel on the outside wall all fed the fire and the smoke.
• A low, enclosed room. With a ceiling around five feet high, smoke filled the class almost at once.
• A structure that should not have been there. The dome on top was a makeshift addition to the building, and approvals, inspections and enforcement did not stop it being used as a classroom.
• Hard to reach from outside. Bystanders tried ladders and whatever they could find. Getting fire-service ladders to the top floor in time was not easy.

What you can check today

If your child goes to a coaching class or tuition centre, go and see it once. It takes ten minutes.

• Count the staircases. A class on an upper floor should have two separate ways down, and neither should be locked or full of bicycles and cartons.
• Look at the room itself. Plastic sheet walls, a temporary roof on a terrace, thermocol, foam or carpet on the walls are all warning signs.
• Ask the owner whether the building has a valid fire NOC for a class of that size. If they cannot tell you, ask the fire brigade or the municipal corporation.
• Check whether there are working extinguishers and a fire alarm, and whether staff have ever done a fire drill with the students.
• Tell your child plainly: if there is smoke, leave at once by the nearest stairs. Do not wait for the class to finish, do not go back for a bag, and never use the lift.

If you run a coaching class, walk your own exit route today, from the farthest desk to the road. If anything slows you down, fix it before the next batch comes in.

Latest update (16 October 2026)

On the seventh anniversary of the fire, Gujarat Mitra reported on 24 May 2026 that the criminal case was still pending in court. Many of the accused were out on bail, and many important witness statements had been recorded. Families said they were still waiting for justice and asked for action against police officers they accused of negligence in the investigation.

We found no verdict by 16 October 2026.

More on Surat: see our Surat fire and emergency safety guide for fire brigade numbers, every fire station and the local risks to know.