A fire tore through two primary schools and a densely packed neighbourhood in the rebel-held city of Bukavu on Thursday morning. The Bukavu school fire killed at least 20 people. Panicked children were caught in a stampede that turned a school run into a mass casualty scene.
The Bukavu school fire broke out shortly after 8am local time. It struck the Chimpunda area of the city, according to United Nations Radio Okapi, which cited local authorities in reporting the toll. The broadcaster said an unspecified number of people were also injured. The cause of the blaze had not yet been established.
Officials have given differing figures for the dead, and authorities caution that the toll remains provisional as rescue and recovery efforts continue. This is a common feature of disasters in areas with limited emergency infrastructure.
Dunia Masumbuko Bwenge, vice governor of South Kivu province, put the toll from the Bukavu school fire at 24. He serves in the administration appointed by the Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 movement. That figure included 19 girls and five boys. He told Reuters that 29 others were injured and that investigators were working to determine what sparked the flames.
A separate account offered a lower but still grim count. Christophe Zigashane, a nurse working at a clinic near the scene, told AFP that his facility alone received around 50 students and several teachers, all suffering from severe asphyxiation. Ten of them died on arrival, he said, and four more died shortly after. That brought his own tally from the Bukavu school fire to 14 deaths, all involving children under the age of ten.
Local leader Patrice Buduge described chaotic scenes as the Bukavu school fire spread through the district. He said the flames triggered a violent stampede. Students trampled one another as they searched for a way out. Many fainted or lost consciousness in the crush.
The blaze struck Ujamaa and Furaha primary schools before spreading to a nearby settlement. It destroyed between 300 and 500 homes along with a health clinic, according to local media accounts relayed by international wire services.
Bukavu is the capital of South Kivu province and sits on the shores of Lake Kivu. It is known for wooden plank houses built tightly across steep hillsides. That construction style leaves entire districts vulnerable once a fire takes hold.
The city has been under the control of the Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebel alliance since early last year. The group swept through eastern Congo in a rapid offensive and seized Bukavu after Congolese police units defected or withdrew.
Thursday’s Bukavu school fire was not an isolated incident. Congolese media reported that the city had already suffered a smaller fire the previous Sunday. That blaze destroyed more than 45 houses in a separate district.
Residents and aid workers have long pointed to overcrowded housing, illegal electricity connections and a near total absence of firefighting equipment as recurring hazards. The city has swelled with displaced families since the conflict began.
Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed the Bukavu school fire consuming rows of homes as smoke rose over the schools. Residents were seen attempting to salvage belongings from the wreckage. By Thursday afternoon the fire had been extinguished. Witnesses described smouldering piles of rubble and twisted sheets of corrugated metal still smoking hours later.
Teacher Simon Kasamira said some pupils had jumped from upper floors of the school buildings to escape the flames. It was an act of desperation that added to the injury toll. Officials cautioned that the death toll from the Bukavu school fire could still rise. The number of destroyed structures was also expected to grow as search efforts continued into the evening.
The Bukavu school fire adds to a difficult year for civilians in eastern Congo. The M23 offensive has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and strained already fragile public services, including emergency response.
Aid organisations working in South Kivu have repeatedly warned that healthcare facilities in rebel-held areas are overstretched. That concern was echoed by the nurse who described his clinic receiving dozens of critically injured students within a matter of hours.
For now, families in Chimpunda are left to search through ash for missing relatives. They are salvaging whatever survived the flames. The competing casualty figures underline how difficult it remains to establish a clear picture of the Bukavu school fire and its true human cost. Aid groups say the toll may not be confirmed for days
