Eleven people, mostly children, have perished in a blaze that tore through a dormitory at a school for the blind in Uganda in the early hours of Tuesday as pupils were sleeping.
“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 conditions and admitted (to hospital),” the Uganda Police Force said on Twitter.
The disaster occurred at about 1 am (2200 GMT Monday) 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 told.
He said the school has been cordoned off as a “crime scene” and vowed that 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 added. The school’s headmaster Francis Kirube, who is also blind, told the flames swept through the dormitory as the pupils slept.
Images broadcast on Ugandan television 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 gathered nearby.