At least 25 children were killed Monday when their thatched classrooms caught fire at an elementary school in southern Niger, according to a cabinet statement.
Fourteen other children were injured, five of them in critical condition, the statement said. The school is in the town of Maradi, more than 600 km east of the capital Niamey.
“For the moment, we cannot specify the origin of the fire,” said the regional director of education Maman Hdi. Classes have been suspended and three days of mourning have been declared in Maradi, he added.
This is the second time this year that a fire has killed students in their classrooms in the West African country. Twenty pre-school children were killed in April in Niamey. The council of ministers said Monday that as a result of the two incidents, preschool classes should not be held in straw-roofed huts.