Boarding school fire kills 12 sleeping children

A fire has destroyed a boarding school dormitory in western Uganda, killing at least 12 sleeping students, a police spokesman said today.

The fire that began last night in a primary boarding school in Kabarole, 200 miles west of Kampala, has been put out and police and fire brigade staff are searching for more survivors and bodies, police spokesman Patrick Onyango said.

The children killed in the fire were aged between 7 and 13, Onyango said.

One child was injured and is in hospital, Onyango said.

Kabarole Regional Police Commander Paddy Musana, however, said that so far only 10 students have been killed in the fire and no students have been taken to hospital.

It was not immediately clear why the two police officials had conflicting information.

Musana said that there were 70 students in the dormitory when the fire broke out.

He said that police and ordinary citizens managed to evacuate most of the students but some were left inside the school building.

Onyango said that the fire may have been started by an unattended candle.