Families of victims of a deadly fire in DR Congo gather at a morgue ahead of mass funeral

By Rédaction Africanews

Days after a deadly school fire on 11 September in Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, families gathered at a morgue ahead of a funeral service.

According to UNICEF, at least 26 children died in the blaze and the stampede that followed, while another 25 children were injured.

The blaze in the city of Bukavu on Thursday began around 9:00 am local time while the children were in lessons, triggering a desperate stampede as students struggled to escape.

Bukavu, a major city and the capital of South Kivu province, has been controlled since February 2025 by the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group after it stepped up a campaign to seize swathes of mineral-rich eastern DRC.

M23 on Friday declared three days of mourning amid an emotional response to the tragedy from around the country.

Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu, is known for its wooden houses built on hillsides, where deadly fires often break out.

Thursday’s blaze devastated a wide, densely built area on such a slope, leaving residents to pick through the debris of charred houses, strewn with crumpled sheets of metal.

Blazes are common in Congolese cities, which largely lack firefighting equipment, and are often caused by a lack of spacing between buildings and illegal connections to the power grid, specialists say.

Last week, a fire at a wedding in the capital Kinshasa killed 12 people, while another blaze in October killed 14 people, mostly children, in Bukavu.