An overnight fire that destroyed a primary school dormitory in Uganda, killing 19 schoolgirls and two adults, may have been set deliberately, police said on Tuesday.
”Preliminary investigations indicate that it was homicide,” police Inspector General Kale Kaihura told reporters at the scene.
He said interviews with teachers and survivors led him to believe the fire was started deliberately.
Sobbing parents sifted through the ashes of the girls’ dormitory at the Buddo Primary School, trying in vain to identify their daughters from charred piles of bones and skulls.
”Help me, oh God please help me,” wailed Jacqueline Bakoba as she lifted up part of the collapsed roof looking for her missing daughter, Betty.
By the time the fire brigade reached the school, most of the girl’s dormitory had already burned down and part of the roof and inner walls had collapsed. The fire burned away almost all the mattresses and children’s clothing and the intense heat warped the metal bed frames.
Teacher Frederick Bugmbe said there were 58 girls in the dormitory, but some managed to wriggle through narrow windows.
Hundreds of parents arrived at the school, which has about 1 000 students, to search for their children. The school is 12km from the capital, Kampala.
Police said it appeared 19 students and two adults died in the blaze but they were still searching the site for remains.
Lydia Namusisi (14), who sleeps in a nearby dormitory, said she was woken up by a loud bang. When the girls tumbled out of bed, they found the dormitory next door blazing.
School worker James Kiiza said the doors had been locked from the outside. He said there was no electricity at the time of the fire, but that the school does not permit the use of candles.
Sylvia Nakatte said she received a phone call to tell her that her 12-year-old daughter, Mary, had died.
”I rushed to the school but her body cannot be identified,” she said, weeping and clawing at the sodden ashes. — Sapa-AP