At least 14 children killed in DR Congo school fire stampede

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A stampede after a fire broke out in a school in the eastern DR Congo city of Bukavu has killed at least 14 children, local and health sources said on Thursday.

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A blaze of “unknown” origins began near a school in the Bagira district on the city’s northern outskirts early on Thursday “while the children were in the middle of class”, local leader Patrice Buduge told AFP.

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“This was followed by a violent stampede that forced students to trample over one another or look for a dangerous way out; many of them fainted and others lost consciousness,” he said.

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He said the provisional toll was “more than 500 homes burned and 27 deaths”.

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AFP was not able to independently verify the toll with other official sources.

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“We received around 50 students, including several teachers, in a critical state of asphyxia,” said Christophe Zigashane, a nurse in a neighbouring clinic.

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“Among them, 10 were dead and four others died at the scene. That makes a total of 14 deaths, all under 10 years old,” he said.

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He said that 27 people including two teachers had been transferred in a critical state to other hospitals in the city.

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Large columns of smoke were still visible around the site of the fire at midday on Thursday, an AFP correspondent saw.

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The fire devastated a wide, densely built area on a hillside where residents were making their way through the debris of charred houses, strewn with crumpled sheets of metal.

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Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, is controlled by the M23 anti-governmental group, which has seized large swathes of eastern DRC.

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The city lies on the shores of Lake Kivu and is known for its wooden plank houses built on hillsides.

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AFP

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