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The spokesperson for rebel M23 group that controls the city,
Lawrence Kanyuka, said earlier that 24 students were killed and
29 people were being treated at local medical facilities.
The fire started at a house before spreading to the two
adjoining schools, local neighborhood administrator Moïse Lubala
told The Associated Press.
He said several students were trapped inside Furaha secondary
school and some suffocated.
A mix of boys and girls of different ages, students at Furaha
and at Ujamaa primary school, were brought to the Nyamulagira
BDOM health center in their school uniforms, nurse Ciza Jean-Baptiste
told the AP.
Medical staff were struggling to keep track of the exact number
of injured because there were so many, he said.
“The exit was too narrow, so some students began jumping through
windows while others rushed toward the door. As everyone tried
to force their way out, students were pushed over and trampled
on,” said Lubala.
The cause of the fire is not known, but the neighborhood where
the fire started is densely populated and most houses are made
out of wood, according to Lubala.
Congo’s government struggles to exert control over the east of
the country. M23 rebels, backed by Rwanda, took control of
Bukavu in February 2025. More than 100 armed groups are vying
for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral
wealth that’s critical for much of the world’s technology.
Health services are under severe strain as the region grapples
with the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history that has killed
more than 3,300 people, with more than 6,800 confirmed cases
recorded.
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Justin Kabumba in Goma, Congo, and Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa,
Congo, contributed to this report.
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