Uganda: Dorm fire at school for the blind kills 11 girls

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA and PATRICK ONEN
Associated Press

MUKONO, Uganda (AP) — A fire at a boarding school for blind students has killed 11 children in a rural community just outside Uganda’s capital, Kampala. The school’s administrator said a girl’s dormitory caught fire around midnight and “very unfortunately, 11 girls, small girls, perished.” Police said in a statement on Tuesday that six other people were hospitalized in critical condition. They said it was not yet known what caused the fire at Salama School for the Blind in the district of Mukono. Fires at schools have been a cause of concern for education officials in Uganda, where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded, and there’s usually no firefighting equipment in place.