The fire, which broke out at around 3:30 pm, engulfed the top two floors of the multi-storey commercial building called Takshashila Arcade in the Sarthana area of Surat, officials said.

The building was a commercial complex which also housed a tuition centre that catered to school children from Class 9 to Class 12. Reports suggest since the summer vacations were on, the students who were preparing for their Class 10 and Class 12 boards exams were in the coaching centre at the time of the incident.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire. The fire, however, has been put out.

Disturbing visuals showed people on the pavement asking the students to jump off the burning building, hoping to catch them.

A video also shows a child falling from a window. It is not clear as of now if the child survived the fall.

Darshana Jardosh, the parliamentarian from Surat, has told NDTV that those who jumped from the building are critically injured, while some were saved.

2 students are critically injured and have been admitted to hospital.

Parliamentarian from Navsari, CR Patil told NDTV that the coaching centre was being run illegally.

An investigation has been ordered into the incident and the state government has promised to give Rs. 4 lakh to each of the families of those killed.