Fire at Two Schools in Eastern Congo's Bukavu Kills at Least 24 Students

A fire that broke out in a house before spreading to two adjoining schools in Bukavu, in eastern Congo, killed at least 24 students, the rebel administration controlling the city said on Thursday.

M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said 19 girls and five boys died, and that 29 people were being treated at local medical facilities.

Local neighbourhood administrator Moïse Lubala said the blaze started at a house and then spread to the two schools. Several students were trapped inside Furaha secondary school, he said, and some suffocated.

Students from both Furaha and the nearby Ujamaa primary school — boys and girls of different ages — were taken to the Nyamulagira BDOM health centre in their school uniforms, nurse Ciza Jean-Baptiste said. Medical staff were finding it difficult to keep an exact count of the injured because of their number, he added.

Lubala described a chaotic scramble to escape. "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," he said.

The cause of the fire has not been established. Lubala noted that the neighbourhood where it began is densely populated and that most of its houses are built of wood.

Bukavu has been under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels since February 2025, part of a wider breakdown of state authority in eastern Congo, where more than 100 armed groups compete for control of vast mineral resources. Health services in the region are already severely strained by the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, which has killed more than 3,300 people, with over 6,800 confirmed cases recorded.