By Swift Reporter
A fire in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) rebel-controlled city of Bukavu has killed at least 29 people, including students, according to local officials.
The dead included 19 girls and five boys, Lawrence Kanyuka, a spokesperson for the AFC/M23 rebel movement now in charge of the city, said on Thursday.
The fire broke out in the Chimpunda neighbourhood of Bukavu, which is the capital of eastern DRC’s South Kivu province, before spreading to two local schools.
United Nations-operated broadcaster Radio Okapi reported the incident took place at Ujamaa primary school and Furaha secondary school, as well as a nearby settlement, at about 8am local time (06:00 GMT), killing at least 29 children. It added that students who suffered from suffocation are being treated in nearby hospitals.
Dunia Masumbuko Bwenge, vice governor of South Kivu province, told reporters that the schools and about 300 wooden homes burned down.
The fire was “followed by a violent stampede that forced students to trample over one another or look for a dangerous way out; many of them fainted, and others lost consciousness”, local official Patrice Buduge said, explaining that some people died in the stampede.
According to Kanyuka, 29 people are being treated in local medical facilities, including 21 in intensive care. Seventeen critically injured people are at Kadutu General Hospital, while four are at Bukavu Provincial General Hospital, he said.
Bukavu has been controlled since February 2025 by the Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 movement after they stepped up their campaign to seize swaths of mineral-rich eastern DRC.
Christophe Zigashane, a nurse at a local clinic, said that his facility “received around 50 students, including several teachers, in a critical state of asphyxia”. He said some people died at the scene while others died at hospitals.
Footage showed the blaze consuming a number of houses, amid a spread of flames that reached the two schools.
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Local media said the death toll remained provisional, and the cause of the fire was yet to be established.
The AFC/M23 said emergency teams were deployed and managed to contain the fire. It said it mobilised assistance for those affected and called for calm, solidarity and vigilance while investigations continue.
Congolese media noted that Bukavu has experienced several fires in recent days, including a blaze that broke out last Sunday and destroyed more than 45 houses.
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