Uganda: A fire in a school for the blind kills 11 children
Eleven students were killed and six others were in critical condition, after a fire broke out Monday night in the dormitory of a school for the blind in central Uganda.
The Ugandan police said the fire broke out around 1 am on Tuesday at the Salama school for the blind in Luga village, about 45 km east of the capital Kampala.
"The cause of the fire is unknown at the moment, but so far 11 deaths have been confirmed (...) and six people have been transferred in critical condition to hospital," she said in a statement.
Pupils who were sleeping at the time of the fire found themselves trapped by anti-theft windows installed in the building in accordance with government regulations, as Ugandan Minister for the Disabled, Helen Grace Asamu, told AFP. "They could not escape and were burned."
The authorities are still trying to identify the victims.
"The students have been burned beyond recognition and we will do DNA tests to determine their identity," said Fatuma Ndepasa, Mukono regional security chief and presidential representative.
Salama boarding school, which was established in 1999, receives dozens of students between the ages of 6 and 14 years.
Britain's Princess Anne, sister of King Charles III, was due to visit the facility on Friday as part of a visit to Uganda, which celebrated 60 years of independence from Britain in October.
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