Tanzania: Fire kills 12 students, injures more

  1. Posted on Monday 24 August 2009 - 09:16
    Alinur
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    Alinoor Moulid Bosh, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    At least 12 students - all of them girls - are reportedly killed and over 20 others severely burned after fire razed their school dormitory in Tanzania's central region of Iringa, police and local media reported. The accident happened in Idodi Secondary School about 460 km southwest of Dar es Salaam.
    map of tanzania
    Evarist Mangala, the Iringa regional police commissioner said the fire was reportedly started after a bedding caught fire from a candle used by one of the girls to study, razing a dormitory to the ground, killing at least 12 students and wounding more than 20 others with one in critical condition.

    The school has a total of 461 students. The charred bodies of the victims are expected to be buried on Tuesday in a common grave in the area.

    The incident marks the worst tragedy of Tanzanian fire disasters since 15 years when a fire gutted secondary school in Kilimanjaro Region, killing more than 40 students.

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