Seven more arrested

Police earlier arrested the owner, headmistress and another official of the private primary school along with two workers in the school kitchen from which flames leapt to the classrooms' thatched roof that collapsed on the youngsters.

The seven new arrests late Tuesday involved a state revenue official, five education officials and a private engineer who built the school in the pilgrimage town of Kumbakonam but failed to put on a fireproof roof.

"These seven will appear in court today (Wednesday)," Additional Police Superintendent D. Kalyanasundaram told AFP from Kumbakonam, 350 kilometres (220 miles) from Madras, capital of southern Tamil Nadu state.

Police have said education officials were supposed to annually inspect the school that authorities said was grossly overcrowded but had not done so for three years despite giving it a new licence each year to continue to operate.