NIAMEY, Niger
At least 20 nursery-school children died in Niger on Tuesday in a fire that trapped them in straw-hut classrooms in a school in a poor neighbourhood of the West African nation's capital, government officials said.
"There were 20 deaths, most of them young
children," said the head of Niger's fire service, Colonel Bako Boubacar.
He said the origin of the fire in Niamey was unknown.
An official of a Niger's teachers union said the school in
the popular Pays Bas neighbourhood had around 800 students, including children
in the nursery section.
"The fire apparently started around the school gate.
Without an emergency exit, many were trapped and students were forced to scale
the wall to escape. Those that died were mostly children in the
preschool," Mounkaila Halidou said.
Another fire service official said 21 straw hut classes
caught fire during the blaze and the children were trapped inside them
The inferno spread so quickly that one mourning father, who
identified himself only by his first name, Abdoulaye, said it had already
destroyed the classrooms by the time firefighters arrived at the scene.
“Rescuers set off rapidly and the fire was put out… but the
intensity of the fire was enormous,” fire service commander Sidi Mohamed said
on public television on Tuesday.
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Only the remains of desks and corrugated
metal sheets were still visible among the debris, with charred books, pencil
cases and backpacks scattered among the ashes.
“The flames were carried from classroom to classroom by the
wind,” said Balaraba Ibrahim who lives nearby.
Her five-year-old niece Yasmina was among the victims.
“She had come home and then she went back to school. It’s
almost as if she was answering the call of death,” Ibrahim said, breaking down.
The cause of the fire was under investigation and it was
not immediately known where it started. However, teachers and parents said on
Wednesday the deaths highlight the dangers of temporary classrooms set up
outside.
In Niger, which ranks as the poorest country in the world
under the United Nations’ 189-nation Human Development Index, straw huts are
often used to make room for students in overcrowded schools.
“It is important that from here the authorities stop the
classes in straw huts,” the National Union of Teachers of Niger said in a
statement.
Gaya, the school director, echoed the call, while Ibrahim,
the aunt of one of the victims, added: “There are plenty of empty lots the
state could give us to build schools.”
Security forces have blocked off the scene while investigators
searched for evidence.
Behind police tape, local residents gathered in anguish to
look over what was left of the school buildings, some with their head in their
hands.
“This is the worst thing that has ever happened at a
Nigerien school – 20 children burned alive in no time. It’s a huge loss for
Niger,” lamented local resident Amadou Seyni.
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