Fire in rebel-held east Congo kills 24 schoolchildren, official says

A fire in Congo's rebel-controlled city of Bukavu killed has at least 24 children as it destroyed two schools and burned down around 300 wooden houses, an official from the rebel administration has said.

The dead included 19 girls and five boys, said Dunia Masumbuko Bwenge, vice governor of South Kivu province, where Bukavu is located, in the government appointed by the Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 movement told Reuters.

The AFC/M23 said in a statement that the provisional death toll stood at 24 and that an investigation into the cause and circumstances of the blaze was under way.

The group said 29 people were receiving medical treatment, including 21 in intensive care.

The rebels seized Bukavu during a lightning advance across eastern Congo early last year.

Mr Bwenge said 29 people were injured in the blaze and investigations were underway to determine the cause of the fire.

The fire was out by the afternoon but white smoke was still rising from piles of rubble and twisted corrugated metal sheets, a Reuters witness said.

"We were on the avenue and the children had just gone to school when the fire started not far from the school," said witness Pierre Mudahama.

"Ambulances arrived to take away the bodies and the injured."

The final death toll could rise, residents and health workers said.

One man at the scene told Reuters that he had helped to load 17 dead bodies — men in addition to children — into an ambulance.

A local health centre said it had received 10 bodies of people killed in the fire. Another hospital said it had admitted more than 50 students, 14 of whom died.

Reuters