At least 20 children were killed when straw-roofed school buildings in Niamey caught fire, the commander of the Niger Fire Department said on public television on Tuesday night.
According to Cindy Mohammed, At least 21 school buildings made of flammable materials “caught fire” and “unfortunately about twenty students were trapped” in the flames.
The firefighters “intervened quickly, the fire was extinguished (…) but the thermal power of the fire was huge, it spread to many buildings and the children could not get out” in time, the commander added.
According to public television, the fire broke out around “16:00” (local time; 18:00 Greek time), while the victims were in the classroom.
The causes of the fire are still unknown.
The Prime Minister of Niger, Uhumundu Mahamadou, accompanied by the Ministers of Interior and National Education, went to the site of the tragedy, in the Pay-Ba district, on the outskirts of the western part of the capital, and expressed his condolences to the parents.
In Niger – one of the poorest countries in the world -, To address the scarcity of school buildings, the authorities are constructing thatched-roof sheds for lessons, even with children sitting on the ground. Fires in this type of area, made of extremely flammable materials, are common, but rarely have casualties.
As there were no emergency exits in the area where there is a school and a daycare center, many students were trapped and forced to climb a wall to get out. What they could not get out of were the younger children, in the nursery.
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