Nine children have been killed by a
fire at a Koranic school near the centre of Senegal's capital, Dakar. The fire broke out as 45 children ages from 6 to 12 slept inside a single
room with wooden walls and zinc roofing in the Medina district.
A candle was thought to have caused the fire, which began late on Sunday. Fire engines reported to have struggled driving down the narrow road
leading to the school, hampering efforts to extinguish the blaze. Dakar's mayor, Khalifa Sall, told RFM radio that the ramshackle development
of densely-populated residential areas in the city made it impossible for the
emergency services to operate effectively. President Macky Sall meanwhile visited the scene of the fire along with
senior government officials on Monday and promised to tackle the long-standing
issue of Koranic schools. Thomas Fessy in Dakar says human rights groups have repeatedly
warned of the poor conditions in which children are housed in such schools, and
some teachers have been accused of abuses.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21664482
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