26 children perish in Bukavu school fire stampede

At least 26 schoolchildren lost their lives in a devastating fire and subsequent stampede that engulfed two schools in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Bukavu on Thursday morning, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF confirmed on Friday. Another 25 children were injured in the tragedy, which has plunged the conflict-ravaged region into mourning.

The blaze erupted around 9:00 a.m. local time (07:00 GMT) in the densely populated Cimpunda neighbourhood of the Kadutu commune while pupils were attending lessons at the Ujamaa primary school and the adjacent Furaha school. Flames, which local accounts indicate may have started in a nearby private home or broken out almost simultaneously at three points roughly 500 metres apart, raced through tightly packed wooden structures built on the city’s steep hillsides. Panic quickly set in as thick smoke filled classrooms.

Students scrambled for the limited exits. Many were trampled in the crush; others were overcome by smoke and asphyxiated inside the buildings. Some pupils leapt from upper-floor windows in a desperate bid to escape. A teacher at Ujamaa primary school, Simon Kasamira, later recounted the chaos: students were screaming, jumping from higher floors, and fleeing through doors as the fire advanced. Inspectors from the Congolese education ministry described how children “trampled” those who had fallen and how those trapped suffered asphyxiation.

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Local neighbourhood administrator Moïse Lubala noted that the school exits were too narrow, forcing some children to jump through windows while others pushed toward the doors, resulting in people being shoved over and crushed. Medical staff at facilities including the Nyamulagira BDOM health centre and hospitals in Kadutu and Bukavu struggled to cope as dozens of injured children—many still in school uniforms—arrived, some in critical condition from burns, smoke inhalation, and trauma.

The M23 armed group, which has controlled Bukavu and much of South Kivu province since seizing the city in February 2025 with alleged Rwandan support, reported the death toll as 20 girls and six boys. The group declared three days of mourning and said funerals for the young victims were expected to take place on Saturday. Provincial officials appointed by the rebels had earlier given figures ranging from 24 to 26, with around 29 people receiving medical treatment, including many in intensive care. Some local leaders initially reported higher provisional numbers of homes destroyed—up to 500 or more—and additional adult casualties, though the confirmed child death toll settled at 26 according to UNICEF.

The fire left a wide area of the hillside neighbourhood in ruins. Residents picked through charred debris and crumpled sheets of corrugated metal the following day as schoolchildren in uniform walked past the blackened remains of homes on their way to classes. Hundreds of wooden houses were destroyed, displacing families who sought temporary shelter in nearby schools and other buildings.

Bukavu, perched on the shores of Lake Kivu, is notorious for such disasters. Its hillside settlements feature closely spaced wooden houses with little room for firebreaks, limited access for emergency vehicles, scarce water supplies, and virtually no professional firefighting capacity. Specialists frequently point to illegal electrical connections and overcrowding as common triggers. The city has seen multiple deadly blazes in recent months, including a fire at a wedding in Kinshasa that killed 12 people last week and another blaze in Bukavu in October that claimed 14 lives, mostly children.

The tragedy has drawn expressions of grief across the Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation already strained by prolonged conflict in its mineral-rich east. The central government in Kinshasa’s Ministry of National Education expressed “deep sorrow,” offered condolences to the affected families, and ordered assessments of the damaged schools to ensure continuity of learning. Rebel authorities pledged an investigation into the cause of the fire, which remains unknown.

As funerals approach and the three-day mourning period begins under M23 administration, the disaster underscores the acute vulnerabilities facing children in eastern Congo—where insecurity, fragile infrastructure, and recurrent urban fires continue to exact a heavy toll on the youngest and most vulnerable residents.