Five girls die, 34 injured in Delhi school stampede

New Delhi: Five girls died and at least 34 others were injured—six of them are critical—following a stampede in a government school at Khajuri Khas in northeast Delhi on Thursday morning. The stampede broke out when around 300 students rushed up and down the school's lone stairway, following a lastminute change in exam seating arrangements.      There were also allegations that boys misbehaved with girls and "tried to fall on them'', triggering the melee. A boy was among those injured. Around 1,200 boys and girls of classes VII to XII gathered at the school on Thursday for their half-yearly examinations. The school normally runs separate shifts for boys and girls but exams are held together. Students said at around 9 am, they were asked to shift rooms as the hutments where the boys usually sat for their exams were flooded. KILLER PASSAGE: The narrow staircase where the pushing and shoving took place on Thursday