Eight held after school fire kills 11 students

Eight people, including teachers and students of St Bernard’s Secondary School Mannya in Rakai District, have been arrested over the Sunday night inferno that killed 11 students.
The district police commander, Mr Ben Nuwamanya, confirmed the arrests. Among the arrested suspects are five students, two teachers and a warden.
“Three out of the five students are Senior Four candidates and we believe they know something about this incident,” Mr Nuwamanya said.

A sombre mood engulfed the school as parents and close relatives of the dead wailed helplessly.
Among the people who reached the school was First Lady and Minister of Education Janet Museveni, who looked shocked by upon seeing the debris.
Ms Museveni urged parents to play their role to ensure proper upbringing of their children.

“Our children should be groomed in a way that fits in the community to avoid such acts from happening in our society,” she said.
“These students did not deserve to die like this,” Kyotera County MP and State Minister for Microfinance, Haruna Kasolo said in a trembling voice as he inspected the ill-fated dormitory together with other government officials.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire started at the entrance of Senior Three boys dormitory at about midnight and quickly spread to the next dormitory housing Senior One students. The fire was escalated by the highly inflammable mattresses and the children’s personal belongings.
The fire fighters arrived four hours after the incident.
“We were using rudimentary ways of putting out fire after being told that the fire engine was coming from Kampala (about 200km away) since the one in Masaka is grounded,” Mr Sam Ssekyewa, one of the residents who arrived at the scene 20 minutes after the incident, said.
At the time the fire broke out, most of the students in the ill-fated dormitory were asleep. The mixed boarding school has 1,500 students.

Some previous school fire incidents

July 30, 2003: Fire razes a dormitory at Masheruka High School, Bushenyi District destroying property.
August 2, 2003: More than 60 students of St Mary’s College Rushoroza in Kabale District lose their property in a dormitory fire.
September 26, 2003: At least 150 pupils of Namawojjolo Islamic Primary School in Mukono District lose property in a dormitory fire.
October 27, 2003: Fire guts the office of Ntare School head teacher in Mbarara District destroying several documents.
February 25, 2004: About 90 S.4 students of Wampeewo Ntake Secondary School in Kasangati, Wakiso District are sent home after a fire guts their dormitory.

March 6, 2004: Property worth millions of shillings is destroyed after a fire guts a dormitory at Muntuyera High school in Ntungamo District.
March 15, 2004: One hundred twenty students of King’s College, Budo lose property when the double-storey England dormitory catches fire.
April 12, 2004: More than 30 Kibuli Secondary School students lose their property when an arsonist torches Aga Khan dormitory.

July 10, 2004: A dormitory at Naalya Secondary School goes up in flames killing Francis Obukwi,16, a Senior Three student.
October 11-15, 2004: Students of Nabumali High School, Gombe Secondary School and Kabasanda Technical Institute stage violent strikes and torch buildings.
November 11, 2004: A fire breaks out at Grapa Parents Junior School in Lungujja, Rubaga Division, razing a make-shift structure that housed classrooms.
October 12, 2004: Property worth millions of shillings is destroyed when a fire guts Pekasa Hostel in Bugolobi which accommodated Makerere University Business School students.

2004: About 20 schools are burnt in strikes and mysterious fires. Some of the schools that suffered fires include Wampewo SS, Bishop Cyprian Kihangire SS, Luzira SS, Wairaka College, St Mary’s College, Rushoroza, Muntuyera SS, Kings College Budo, Kibuli SS, Lords Maede Vocational Institute, Seeta High School, Naalya SS, City view College, Kabalega SS and Bilal Islamic Institute.
July 7, 2005: Fire burns the offices of the head teacher and bursar at Lango College in Lira District destroying valuable documents.
August 15, 2005: Fire guts a boys’ dormitory at Kakungulu Memorial Secondary School in Kibuli, destroying property worth millions of shillings.

November 21, 2005: Fire guts Nyakasura School’s dormitory destroying property worth about Shs200 million.
March 30, 2006: At least 13 pupils of Kabarole Islamic Primary School in Fort Portal die when a fire gutted their dormitory.
July 31, 2006: Six pupils die and several others are injured at Jinja Army Boarding Primary School (Gadaffi Barracks) when their dormitory catches fire.
April 14, 2008: Fire guts Nassolo dormitory at Budo Junior School, Wakiso District, killing 18 pupils and two adults.
April 2008. Fire guts a dormitory at St Savio Primary School, Kisubi. No pupil is injured.

September 1, 2015: A girls dormitory at Nyendo Modern Primary School in Masaka Municipality goes up in flames. The inferno kills Asmat Najjuko ,a Primary Two pupil .
June 2, 2018: Fire guts a dormitory at Bishop Ddungu Primary School in Lwengo District.
March 2018: Fire guts a dormitory at Greenhill Primary School in Kifuuta Village, Kitanda Sub-county in Bukomansimbi District.

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