26 dead in DR Congo school fire stampede

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At least 26 children died in a fire and stampede at a school in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN children’s agency said on Friday.

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The blaze in the city of Bukavu on Thursday began around 9:00 am (0700 GMT) while the children were in lessons, triggering a desperate stampede as students struggled to escape.

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Another 25 children were injured, UNICEF said in a statement.

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Bukavu, a major city and the capital of South Kivu province, has been controlled since February 2025 by the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group after it stepped up a campaign to seize swathes of mineral-rich eastern DRC.

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M23 on Friday declared three days of mourning amid an emotional response to the tragedy from around the country.

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Funerals for the victims are expected to be held on Saturday.

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Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu, is known for its wooden houses built on hillsides, where deadly fires often break out.

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Thursday’s blaze devastated a wide, densely built area on such a slope, leaving residents to pick through the debris of charred houses, strewn with crumpled sheets of metal.

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Blazes are common in Congolese cities, which largely lack firefighting equipment, and are often caused by a lack of spacing between buildings and illegal connections to the power grid, specialists say.

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Last week, a fire at a wedding in the capital, Kinshasa, killed 12 people, while another blaze in October killed 14 people, mostly children, in Bukavu.

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AFP

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