Uganda: 11 children killed in a fire at a school for the blind

Eleven people, including children, have died in a fire at a boarding school in Uganda.

Police officials said the fire broke out overnight in Mukona district, a rural community near the capital Kampala.

Another six people were taken to hospital in critical condition, but the cause of the fire at the school for the blind in Salame is still unknown.

Senior Mukono official Fatuma Ndisaba told local media that the victims included children between the ages of seven and 10.

With the support of the families, the victims will be identified through DNA tests, she added.

School fires are a concern in the East African country, where classrooms and dormitories are often overcrowded.

There is usually no fire fighting equipment, and poor electrical connections are often blamed.

Two dormitories at a separate school in Kampala were destroyed by fires in 2020, but no one was injured.

In 2008, 19 elementary school students died in a fire at another boarding school.