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School fire kills Uganda children School fire kills Uganda children
(about 4 hours later)
An overnight fire in a school dormitory in Uganda has killed 19 children and injured several others, police say. An overnight fire in dormitory at a Ugandan junior school near the capital, Kampala, has killed at least 19 girls.
"It was a female dormitory with girls aged between nine to 12," said police spokeswoman Judith Nabkooba. The BBC's Joshua Mmali at the scene says distraught parents are wailing as rescuers work to retrieve bodies.
She said police are investigating the cause of the fire at Buddo Primary School near the capital, Kampala. "Preliminary investigations indicate that it was homicide," Police Inspector General Kale Kaihura said, reports AP news agency.
A school worker told AP news agency that the hostel was locked from the outside and that the electricity had not been connected during the fire. Our reporter says it has been established that the hostel's doors were locked from the outside.
"We suspect that bad people are responsible for the fire," said James Kiiza, adding that workers had been striking for more than a month because they had not been paid. Two adults are also reported to have died in the fire, which police say started at 2200 local time (1900 GMT) on Monday.
Two adults are also reported to have died in the fire which police say started at 2200 local time (1900 GMT) on Monday. It is not clear how many children were in the room, which had 63 beds.
Rescue teams are combing the debris at the government school to recover bodies. Hospital
"Several students who survived the incident have been taken to hospital with minor injuries but we are yet to know how many were in the dormitory at the time of the fire," Ms Nabakooba told the BBC News website. A Red Cross worker told the BBC that it is difficult to identify the bodies as sometimes only pieces of bodies are being found.
This is third deadly school fire in Uganda in two years. Our reporter says it is possible that more than 70 girls were in the building as sometimes pupils sleep on mattresses on the floor.
Police are yet to establish the nationalities of those students affected. "Several students who survived the incident have been taken to hospital with minor injuries but we are yet to know how many were in the dormitory at the time of the fire," Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba told the BBC News website.
Correspondents say recently schools in Uganda have been attracting large numbers of students from East Africa. Our reporter says Buddo Primary School, 12 km from Kampala, is one of Uganda's top performing private schools.
School staff had recently been on strike over unpaid salaries.
This is the third deadly school fire in Uganda in two years.