Four children were burnt alive when a private school’s mini-van carrying students caught fire in Punjab’s Sangrur on Saturday.

Twelve children were in the van when the incident took place and eight were rescued, police said. A three-year-old girl who had gone to school for the first time was among the dead, the police said.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has ordered a magisterial inquiry.

“Very sad to learn of the news from Sangrur where we lost 4 children because their school van caught fire. Injured have been rushed to the hospital. DC and SSP Sangrur are on the spot and I have ordered a magisterial enquiry. Guilty will be strictly punished,” he tweeted.

The kids were returning from school when the incident took place on the Longowal-Sidsaachar road, the police said.

Sangrur deputy commissioner Ghanshyam Thori, who visited the spot, told the media that the police had registered a case under Section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against the school principal, its management and the owner and driver of the van.

“Preliminary inquiry indicates that the van was in condemned condition and was being run illegally as per the report of the district transport office. If the DTO or any official of his office is found guilty, he will be chargesheeted,” he said.

Sangrur civil hospital’s senior surgeon, Dr Raj Kumar, said no child was admitted to the government hospitals in the district. “The children who survived were taken away by their families from the spot,” he said.

Police sources said the van was of a 90s model fitted with an LPG kit and was unfit to ply. The driver fled after the fire, the sources said.