A fire tore through two primary schools in Bukavu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s rebel-held South Kivu province, on Thursday, triggering a stampede that authorities say left dozens of children dead. The blaze broke out at the Ujamaa and Furaha schools and a neighbouring settlement, reducing hundreds of nearby homes to ash as it spread through the densely packed area.
Local officials say the confirmed death toll stands at between 20 and 24, most of them girls, though the figure is still being verified and could rise. A nurse at a nearby health facility said she had received roughly 50 students and teachers suffering from severe smoke inhalation in the hours after the fire broke out, a sign of how many more may have been affected beyond the confirmed fatalities.
The exact cause of the fire has not yet been established, and authorities in the M23-held city are still working to reach a fuller account of what happened, given the chaos of the stampede that followed as students and staff tried to escape the flames. Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, has been under the control of the M23 rebel group since earlier this year, complicating both the emergency response and the flow of verified information out of the city.
The fire is among the deadliest school incidents reported in the region in recent years, and comes as South Kivu’s rebel administration faces mounting pressure over the safety of civilian infrastructure under its control. Regional aid groups have long warned that schools in contested areas of eastern Congo operate with minimal fire safety equipment and overcrowded classrooms, conditions that can turn even a small blaze into a mass-casualty event. Parents and community members gathered near the affected schools through the day, seeking word of missing children as rescue teams worked through the wreckage.