Eleven students died in a fire that broke out Monday night in the dormitory of a school for the blind in central Uganda. For her part, the Ugandan Minister for the Disabled told the agency that "the students found themselves trapped by the anti-theft windows that were installed in the building in accordance with government laws."
Eleven students died and six others were in critical condition Tuesday, after a fire broke out Monday night in the dormitory of a school for the blind in central Uganda.
The Ugandan police said that the fire broke out around the first hour of Tuesday morning, in the "Salama" school for the blind in the village of Luga, about 45 kilometers east of the capital Kampala.
"The cause of the fire is currently unknown, but to date, 11 deaths have been confirmed and six people have been transferred to a critical condition," she said in a statement.
In her account of the incident, Ugandan Minister for the Disabled, Helen Grace Asamu, told AFP that the students, who were asleep at the time of the fire, found themselves trapped by anti-theft windows installed in the building in accordance with government regulations. "They couldn't escape and got burned," she added.
The authorities are still trying to identify the victims.
"The students have been burned beyond recognition and we will conduct DNA tests to determine their identity," Mukono regional security chief and presidential representative, Fatuma Ndepasa, said.
The Salama boarding school, which was established in 1999, receives dozens of students between the ages of 6 and 14 years.
Britain's Princess Anne, sister of King Charles III, was due to visit the facility on Friday as part of a visit to Uganda, which celebrated 60 years of independence from Britain on October 9.
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