360 Die as Fire Engulfs School Party in N. India : Disaster: Tent erected for academic festivities erupts in flames. Many of the children--some as young as 5--and adults crammed inside are crushed in stampede to escape. Hundreds more are injured, officials say.

A devastating fire swept through a tent crowded with schoolchildren in northern India on Saturday, killing at least 360 people, many of them crushed in the ensuing stampede, officials said.

The victims, most of them 5 to 17 years old, were attending an annual school awards ceremony, held on the lawn of a local community hall in Dabwali, 175 miles northwest of New Delhi.

The fire, which was reportedly caused by an electrical short circuit, started about 2 p.m. and engulfed the tent in minutes, local officials said.

About 200 people were injured, 80 of them with serious burns, officials and news agencies reported.

“The casualties are still pouring in,” Minister of State for Human Resource Development Selja Kumari told Reuters news agency in New Delhi. “A lot of the dead are children.”

Selja left later by helicopter for Dabwali, which is in her parliamentary constituency.

Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao expressed deep shock over the disaster and directed the government of the state of Haryana to make all arrangements to provide relief to those affected.

Bhajan Lal, Haryana’s chief minister, declared three days of state mourning and ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Shrikant Walgad, a senior district official reached in Sirsa, 40 miles from the scene of the tragedy, said medical teams have been drafted throughout the district and in the neighboring province of Punjab to assist the injured.

“Every vehicle, including private and government cars, has been put on rescue work,” said Rohtas Singh, a watchman at the district administration office in Sirsa. “The whole of Sirsa has been pressed into this, and the whole town is caught up.”

“People have lined outside the civil hospital to donate blood,” said Arvinder Singh Bhatti, a businessman in Sirsa.

The United News of India said 1,300 children from the Dayanand Anglo Vedic school, along with their parents, friends and relatives, were gathered at the time of the disaster.

Official sources said the school’s principal, Nirmal Sharma, and the wife of the district magistrate were among those who were killed.

Most of the victims were trampled to death as the frightened crowds tried to escape through the only exit, a small gate, police spokesman R.S. Yadav told Reuters news agency.

The large tent used for the school ceremony is similar to those used in many marriages and other social functions in India.

The tents are often festooned with lights whose wiring is poorly insulated and are known to dangle dangerously.