At least 20 children have died after they became trapped in a fire at a school in Niger s capital, Niamey.
The fire started late on Monday afternoon when the children were attending lessons in straw classrooms.
The flames blocked the school gate, so most pupils had to escape over a wall, a teacher s union official quoted by Reuters said.
Most of those who did not manage to escape were attending the school s nursery, officials say. Twenty-one classrooms in straw huts caught fire. Around 20 children were trapped in the blaze, fire service commander Sidi Mohamed told public television, AFP reports.
He said firefighters attended the scene in Niamey s Pas Bas district quickly, but the power of the fire was enormous .