One dead, three injured in Ntungamo school fire

Ntungamo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A student has burnt to death and three others escaped with burns following a fire outbreak at Kyamate Secondary School in Ntungamo district. The deceased has been identified as Bonus Ankwatireire, a senior one student from Isingiro district.

The head teacher, Emmanuel Arinaitwe, says that three other students were injured as they tried to rescue their property from the fire that broke out on one of the blocks hosting two male dormitories on Sunday night. The fire reduced student property including mattresses, beddings, beds, books, and personal effects to ashes.

Arinaitwe says that the deceased student was locked inside the dormitory while his colleagues were attending preps. He says that by the time the locks were removed, the student had burnt to death.

Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi region police spokesperson says the fire that started at around 9:30pm burnt Nyerere and Mandela dormitories. Kasasira says that preliminary investigations show that a group of former students raided the school through the fence and torched the dormitory.

He says police retrieved the deceased’s body and took it to Itojo hospital mortuary while the injured students are admitted at South Ankole Diocese Health Center. One of the students told URN on condition of anonymity that they were attending preps when they heard their colleagues making a lot of noise before they saw smoke coming out from the dormitories only to realize they were on fire.

In June last year, fire gutted a boys’ dormitory at Mbarara Secondary School, another at St. Andrews Secondary School in Rubindi, and the Administration block at Mbarara View High School. The fire incidents occurred within a space of 10 days from June 17 to June 27, 2022. Police have since failed to release a report explaining the cause of the fires.

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