11 people – mainly children – are killed in fire at a school for the blind in Uganda
- Fire tore through Salama School for the Blind in the Mukono district this morning
- The blaze started at 1am, trapping kids who were sleeping in dormitories
- Eleven people, mostly kids, were killed, with six more left in critical condition
Eleven people, mostly children, have died in Uganda after a fire tore through a dormitory at a school for the blind as pupils were sleeping early this morning.
‘The cause of the fire is currently unknown but so far 11 deaths as a result of the fire have been confirmed while six are in critical condition and admitted (to hospital),’ the Ugandan Police Force said on Twitter.
The disaster occurred at about 1am this morning (10pm Monday UK time) at the Salama School for the Blind in the Mukono district, east of the capital Kampala.
Police said an investigation had been launched into the cause of the inferno and more details would be released later.
‘Most of the dead are children at the school and our sympathies go to the parents,’ Internal Affairs Minister General Kahinda Otafiire said, adding that the school has been cordoned off as a ‘crime scene’ and vowing there would be a full investigation.
‘As government we shall go to the root cause of the fire and if there are any culprits they will be apprehended and the law will take its course,’ he declared.
The school’s headmaster Francis Kirube, who is also blind, said the flames swept through the dormitory as the pupils slept.
Images from the scene of the blaze showed a charred but still largely intact building where the fire broke out, its window frames and door blackened and the corrugated roof damaged.
Forensic teams were seen in white protective gear at the school, while grieving parents were pictured weeping as they sat on the ground nearby.
Police say at least eleven people died including students after a fire broke out in the middle of the night at a school for the blind in Uganda. Six others were taken to hospital in critical condition
A girl is comforted by her father at the scene of a fire at Salama School for the Blind in Mukono District
A woman reacts after learning about the death of her granddaughter at the scene of a fire at Salama School for the Blind in Mukono District, Uganda, 25 October 2022
Parents gather at the Herona hospital where injured students receive treatment following a fire in a dormitory building at the Salama School for the Blind at the Herona Hospital in Kisoga Town, near Kampala, Uganda October 25, 2022
Richard Muhimba, the distraught father of one of the dead children, told AFP: ‘No words can explain the pain I am going through.
‘I visited my child on Saturday, he was in good health and in less than three days he is gone… Please give me time to go through this pain,’ said Muhimba, before hanging up.
A friend told AFP that the child was aged 15 and that Muhimba was a father of five.
Salama was built in April 1999 by the local government in Mukono and caters for children and young adults between the ages of six to 25.
Princess Anne, the sister of King Charles III, had been due to visit the school during her trip this week to Uganda, which marked its 60th anniversary of independence from Britain earlier this month.
Kinubi, the Salama School for the Blind administrator, acknowledged there was a lack of safety equipment on the premises.
‘I have to admit that we do not have systems like fire extinguishers because we have always been appealing to government to provide us with some of these gadgets, but in vain,’ he said.
Students injured when fire gutted down a dormitory building at the Salama School for the Blind, are received for treatment at the Herona Hospital in Kisoga Town, near Kampala
Parents react at the Salama School for the Blind following a fire in a dormitory building in Luga Village, Ntanzi Parish of Mukono District, near Kampala
Police forensic experts investigate the scene of a fire at Salama School for the Blind in Mukono District, Uganda, 25 October 2022
The East African nation has suffered a string of deadly school fires in recent years, a cause of concern for education officials in a country where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded, and there’s usually no firefighting equipment in place.
In November 2018, 11 boys perished and another 20 suffered severe burns in a suspected arson attack at a boarding school in southern Uganda.
In April 2008, 18 schoolgirls burned to death along with one adult when a fire engulfed their dormitory at a junior school near the Ugandan capital.
And in March 2006, at least 13 children were killed and several hurt when fire razed an Islamic school in western Uganda. In July the same year, six children died in a similar fire in the east.
Officials have cited poor electrical connections as sparking blazes in some cases.
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