20 children killed in Niger school fire
152
NIAMEY, April 14, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Some 20 children died Tuesday after several classrooms caught fire at a school in Niger’s capital Niamey, the fire service said.
“Twenty-one classrooms in straw huts caught fire. Around 20 children were trapped in the blaze,” fire service commander Sidi Mohamed said on public television.
“Rescuers set off rapidly and the fire was put out… but the power of the fire was enormous,” he added. “The children were not able to escape.”
Public television, citing witnesses, said the fire had broken out at around 4.00 pm (1500 GMT), “when the victims were in class”.
People in Niger are mourning 20 pre-school children – aged between three and five – trapped in the flames of a horrific fire at a school on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Niamey.
The young victims perished on Tuesday when the blaze tore through buildings made of wood and straw in the impoverished poor “Pays-Bas” neighbourhood that was built in a former clay quarry near Niamey airport.
On Wednesday, anguished parents and teachers gathered at the school. Wiping away tears with her veil, the school’s director Habiba Gaya said all of Niger was in “total mourning”.
“The little children, innocents, were really burned alive in this fire,” she told AFP news agency, explaining that while older children were able to make it out, those aged five and under were not.
Some 20 children died Tuesday after several classrooms caught fire at a school in Niger s capital Niamey, the fire service said. Twenty-one classrooms in straw huts caught fire. Around 20 children were trapped in the blaze, fire service commander Sidi Mohamed said on public television. Rescuers set off rapidly and the fire was put out. but the power of the fire was enormous, he added. The children were not able to escape.
Public television, citing witnesses, said the fire had broken out at around 4pm, when the victims were in class .
The cause of the fire was not yet known.
Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou travelled to the scene of the tragedy, on the edge of the capital, to offer his condolences to the children s parents.
At least 20 children dead in Niger nursery school fire
By Chad Williams
Share
CAPE TOWN – At least twenty children have died after a fire gutted a school in Niger’s capital of Niamey on Tuesday afternoon.
According to a report by news broadcaster BBC, the children were attending lessons in straw-hut classrooms when the fire broke out.
Halidou Mounkaila, the secretary-general of the National Trade Union of Contractual Agents and Civil Servants in Basic Education said: Twenty-five out of 38 classrooms in the school were devastated by the fire, as reported by Anadolu Agency.
Straw-hut classrooms are often built as overflow areas for lessons in schools when there are not enough brick ones, according to a BBC reporter.
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 .