At least 26 students have died and dozens more sustained severe injuries after a fire swept through two adjoining schools and an estimated 300 wooden homes in Bukavu, a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The blaze, which originated in a neighboring house before engulfing Furaha secondary school and Ujamaa primary school in the densely populated Kadutu commune, triggered a tragic stampede as children attempted to escape through a single narrow exit.
Local authorities and health officials in South Kivu province confirmed that the majority of the dead were young students, including 19 girls and seven boys, with warnings that the death toll could increase further as rescue operations clear the smoldering debris. The disaster has devastated the rebel-controlled provincial capital, placing extreme pressure on local medical facilities and highlighting severe urban infrastructure vulnerabilities in the region.
Fire Spreads From Residential Quarter to Densely Packed Classrooms
According to local neighbourhood administrator Mose Lubala, the fire initiated in a residential building constructed primarily of timber before rapidly extending into the adjacent school structures. Bukavu, known for its steep hillside topography and tightly packed wooden housing stock, offered little physical containment as flames tore through the surrounding neighborhood.
Local resident Pierre Mudahama described the speed of the disaster, noting that children had only recently arrived for morning classes when the fire broke out nearby. "We were on the avenue and the children had just gone to school when the fire started not far from the school," Mudahama said. "Ambulances arrived to take away the bodies and the injured." Emergency responders worked through the morning to extinguish the blaze, though smoke continued to rise from piles of rubble and twisted corrugated metal sheets into the afternoon.
Narrow Exits and Panic Cause Fatal Crush Inside Classrooms
The structural layout of the school compound severely hampered evacuation efforts, converting the sudden emergency into a deadly crush. Mose Lubala explained that the primary bottleneck was a single, constricted exit door that proved incapable of accommodating the volume of fleeing children from both Furaha secondary school and Ujamaa primary school.
"The exit was too narrow, so some students began jumping through windows while others rushed toward the door," Lubala stated. "As everyone tried to force their way out, students were pushed over and trampled on." Several students trapped inside Furaha secondary school suffocated in the dense smoke before rescue workers could establish access to the building. Nurse Ciza Jean-Baptiste at the Nyamulagira BDOM health centre noted that children of varying ages were brought to the facility directly in their school uniforms as medical personnel struggled to cope with the influx.
Hospitals Overwhelmed as Provisional Death Toll Rises
Medical facilities across Bukavu experienced an immediate surge of victims, leaving doctors and nurses struggling to manage the severity and volume of trauma cases. Jean-Baptiste noted that healthcare personnel were initially unable to keep an exact tally of incoming patients due to the surrounding chaos and rapid arrival of victims from the burn site.
The Alliance Fleuve Congo and M23 movement, the Rwanda-backed rebel group controlling Bukavu after seizing the city in February 2025, released casualty updates as regional authorities monitored emergency care. Dunia Masumbuko Bwenge, the vice governor of South Kivu appointed by the rebel administration, stated that 29 people were receiving medical treatment, including 21 in intensive care units. Separate reports from local healthcare providers indicated that one hospital admitted more than 50 injured students, 14 of whom died after arrival, while a nearby health centre received 10 deceased victims directly from the scene.
Urban Density and Administrative Fragmentation Under Rebel Control
The tragedy highlights the ongoing municipal and administrative challenges in Bukavu, where rapid population growth and wooden construction create severe fire hazards. The city's capture by M23 rebels in February 2025 created a split administrative structure between rebel-appointed provincial officials on the ground and the recognised national government in Kinshasa.
In response to the disaster, the Ministry of National Education and New Citizenship in Kinshasa issued an official statement on social media expressing sorrow over the casualty figures. National officials stated that the reported death toll remains provisional, offering formal condolences to affected families while ordering structural and safety assessments of affected schools to ensure eventual learning continuity for surviving students.
Broader Safety Directives and Regional Health Pressures
The fire in Bukavu follows another recent tragedy in Kinshasa, where residents died in a stampede during a fire at a wedding banquet hall. In response to that earlier event, national authorities ordered stricter enforcement of structural safety standards and deployed inspection teams across the country to enforce egress compliance at public gathering venues.
The surge of burn and crush victims places additional strain on an eastern Congolese healthcare system already struggling with severe regional crises. Alongside active conflict involving numerous armed groups vying for control of eastern Congo's mineral resources, the region is simultaneously responding to the deadliest Ebola outbreak in recorded history, which has resulted in over 3,300 deaths and more than 6,800 confirmed cases across affected provinces.
Rebel authorities in South Kivu stated that formal investigations into the precise cause and circumstances of the blaze remain ongoing. Local officials and emergency crews are continuing to evaluate structural damage across the destroyed residential blocks and school grounds to establish a final casualty total.
