School fire kills one, injures 15 pupils

By Fran cis Kagolo and Ben Ssentongo

Fire gutted a dormitory at Kibibi Junior School in Butambala district yesterday morning, killing a seven-year-old pupil
and injuring over a dozen others.

Sharon Katusingye was burnt to death when the girls’ dormitory went up in flames at around 3:00am. The dormitory housed 40 pu­pils. Fifteen of the girls, aged between seven and 10 years, were admitted at Kibibi Health Centre II.

According to Phillip Musoke, the central-west Police spokesperson, the 15 were admitted with burns and other injuries that developed when they ran into beds during the scuffle to escape the fire.

The Police suspect that the fire spread from a candle that was left on in the dormi­tory when the pupils went to bed.

Consequently, the matron, only identified as Lukonge, has been arrested. “We think the matron neglected her duties. The young girls ought to have been with her in the dormitory, but she wasn’t there at the time it caught fire. We have her in our custody to help with investigations,” said Musoke.

Some of the occupants of the dormitory told New Vision that they first heard a bang on the window near Katunsingye’s bed minutes before the fire broke out.

Katusingye and her four siblings, who are also pupils in the same school, shared the same dormitory. The deceased is daughter of Wilson Kateera, a resident of Maddu in the same district.

The officers from Kibibi Police Station, who rushed to the scene, joined the residents and teachers to put out the fire using water and sand.

However, all that was in vain until after an hour when the Police Fire Brigade arrived from Kampala. The head teacher, Steven Lukwago and his wife, who is the deputy head teacher, were too shaken to explain any cir­cumstances surrounding the incident.

This is the latest in a series of fires that have gutted school dormitories and become a paradox to education ministry officials.

Over the last five years, there have been at least 40 fire outbreaks in schools that have claimed lives and destroyed property worth billions of shillings.

For instance, on March, 30, 2006 a total of 13 pupils at Kabarole Islamic Primary School in Fort Portal died when fire destroyed their dormitory.

In September 2009, at least 18 pupils of Nassolo girls’ dormitory at Budo Junior School died in a fire outbreak