Ten students dead after a suspected arson

In Kampala, Uganda there was a suspected arson at a local boarding school. Ten students died because of this incident, and about thirty students are injured. This occurred when the boys' dormitory was set afire, and the doors were padlocked. Three former students have been expelled after this tragedy, and a security guard has been arrested after being connected to this fire. Police have arrested three expelled students suspected of starting the blaze.

The police spokesman said the students arrested were a part of a group of fifteen students who were expelled this year. After their expulsion, some of these fifteen students made threats to harm people at the school. The death toll is expected to rise after finding out that many students are suffering from critical burns that are life-threatening.

Supposedly the arsonists had locked the doors with padlocks ensuring that no students would be able to escape the fire. When interviewing Ellie Lockwood, she said, “I can’t believe that this has happened to so many kids and I can’t believe that ten kids died so far. This is such a tragic story.”

After rescuers in the neighborhood were able to rescue the students, they had to break the padlocks. By the time they got into to dormitory, many students had already suffocated from the smoke, and several had already died. Many students were burnt so severely that they are no longer able to be recognized by parents.

As of now, they were able to hand over ten of the most easily recognizable bodies to parents but after DNA tests. The burial of these bodies is most likely to be delayed because they need to have DNA tests for each victim of the fire for families to receive the right bodies. After interviewing Victoria Bell, she said, “This is such a sad story to hear. I can’t believe that this could happen at a school and kill so many innocent people.”

The Uganda Red Cross Society said that rescuers used a hoe to break the padlock and rescue the victims who were trapped in the fire. When interviewing Allison Brown, she said, “It is so important to have rescuers in times like these. So many firefighters and local rescuers risked their lives to help these kids.”

Rescuers were eventually forced to wait for the firefighters, who arrived in the morning, due to the extremely heavy smoke inside the property and the locked doors. Twenty victims are in the hospital in critical condition, and many of these conditions are expected to be deadly.