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South Niger ‘deadly fire school’ demolishes’ | News

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At least 26 people have been killed and 13 others injured in a blaze of straw in the city of Maradi.

At least 26 school children were killed when straw and wood classrooms were set on fire in southern Niger, a local governor told AFP news agency.

“Right now, we have 26 dead and 13 injured, four of them seriously,” Mariban mayor Chaibou Aboubacar said, adding that the children were between five and six years old, the fire reported on Monday, according to AFP. .

Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, has tried to make up for the shortage of school buildings by building thousands of straws and wooden sheds to function as classrooms, with children sometimes sitting on the floor.

Fires are common in very flammable classrooms but are rarely fatal.

However, 20 school children were burned in a working-class neighborhood in Niamey in April in a school fire.

Issoufou Arzika, secretary general of the Nigerian Teachers ’Union, told AFP that Monday’s fire had“ ruined ”the Maradi school.

Arzika said his union warned officials of the danger of straw and wood classrooms after the Niamey fire.

“It’s better to do classes under trees than in straw huts, as they have become flammable graves for students,” he said.

President Mohamed Bazoum has just promised to replace the wooden structures.

The school fire occurred at least 18 people in a gold mine that collapsed in the Dan-Issa district in the north of the country.



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