Andhra Dy CM Pawan Kalyan’s son injured in Singapore school fire that kills 10-year-old girl
Singapore/Vijayawada, Apr 8 (PTI): A 10-year-old girl died and 20 others, including Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s son, were injured after a fire broke out in a Singapore building on Tuesday, authorities said.
The blaze erupted at a three-storey shophouse on River Valley Road, near Singapore's Central Business District (CBD), housing several businesses, including a cooking school, a theatre group and a robotics institute for children.
Kalyan’s younger son, Mark Shankar, sustained injuries in the fire at the school, his Jana Sena Party said in a statement released in Vijayawada.
The incident caused burns to Mark’s hands and legs, while smoke inhalation also affected his lungs and he is currently receiving treatment in a hospital there, the Party said.
The Party, in a Facebook post, said Kalyan would travel to Singapore after completing his earlier commitments.
Channel News Asia quoted Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who confirmed the fatality of the 10-year-old girl in the fire at the shophouse on the outskirts of the CBD.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), in a Facebook post, said at least 20 people, including 15 children, have been taken to hospitals.
Videos shared on social media showed black smoke billowing from the building and children perched on a third-floor ledge. Several bystanders, including construction workers, were seen climbing the scaffolding to rescue the stranded people.
Rescue ladders and a combined platform ladder were deployed to rescue the rest of the stranded people on the ledge, while firefighters proceeded to extinguish the blaze on the second and third floors of the building.
Police and SCDF personnel evacuated around 80 people from the building and nearby premises and as many as 20 persons were taken to hospital.
“Our immediate priority is to provide urgent medical care to these patients and to lend support to the caregivers,” Associate Professor Sashikumar Ganapathy, head and senior consultant at the Department of Emergency Medicine at the K K Women's and Children's Hospital, said.
The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained and an investigation is underway, the SCDF said.
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Andhra to be developed as knowledge, creator economy hub: CM Naidu
New Delhi/Amaravati (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the state is taking steps to transform itself into a knowledge and creator economy hub with a strong focus on artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
He noted that Andhra Pradesh has abundant tech-driven youth and the government is formulating plans to train them in futuristic technologies with support from global technology firms.
"Our goal is to transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub by focusing on AI, quantum computing, data centres, drone cities and space cities. The youth will remain our biggest asset over the next 25 years, and we seek global partnerships to scale up the creator economy," said Naidu during his interactions at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi.
Naidu, who participated in the summit in the national capital, also held meetings with several global technology leaders and industrialists to explore collaborations in artificial intelligence, clean energy and innovation ecosystems.
He met Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Autodesk AI Head Mike Haley, Aramco India Director Abdul Rehman AiThukair, LEGO Education Vice President Tom Hall, Aadhaar Founder and CTO Srikanth Nadhamuni, Khosla Ventures Managing Partner Vinod Khosla and others at the AP Pavilion.
The chief minister also held discussions with Saudi Aramco representatives on clean energy projects, including solar initiatives, and invited the company to expand operations in Andhra Pradesh, stating that the state is highly suitable for green energy production.
He sought support from NVIDIA Vice President Callista Redmond for establishing AI Living Labs and proposed partnerships through the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub to promote youth innovation, including collaborations with IIT Tirupati and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati under the Andhra Pradesh Future Innovation and Research for Science and Technology (AP FIRST) initiative.
Naidu urged Autodesk leadership to support the development of Global Capability Centres in design engineering and requested the establishment of an Innovation Academy in Amaravati aligned with quantum technology, besides proposing AI and robotics learning labs in partnership with LEGO Education.
He also discussed AI-driven smart governance solutions with Quantela Inc Chairman Sridhar Gadhi, while World Bank Group Digital AI Regional Director Mahesh Uttamchandani met Naidu on the sidelines of the summit.
Following the meetings, Naidu visited various exhibition stalls at the summit, including those of NVIDIA, Tata, Intel and Microsoft, and reviewed AI applications across agriculture, healthcare and industry.
