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The police have not yet been able to determine the cause of the fire. File image. Photo: Sayyid Azim/AP/TT
17 pupils have been killed in a fire at an unofficial Koran school in the city of Kaura Namoda in northwestern Nigera, says local police.
The fire destroyed the students’ accommodation during the night until Wednesday and, in addition to the many dead, left another 17 children with severe burns.
A teacher states that about 100 students aged 10-16 were sleeping when a fire broke out around midnight. However, it could be extinguished and the children had to go back to sleep. But around 02, screams were heard and the teacher saw his students trying to flee the fire.
According to the police, it has not yet been possible to determine the cause of the fire.
Unofficial Muslim Koran schools (mattress), are common in the predominantly Muslim northern Nigera, where children from poor homes are sent to learn the Qur’an.