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A fire originating from a nearby house spread rapidly to the Ujamaa and Furaha primary schools in Bukavu’s Chimpunda district on Thursday morning while classes were in session, leading to multiple deaths among young pupils who were overcome by smoke or trampled in the rush to escape. United Nations Radio Okapi, quoting local authorities, reported 20 people killed with an unspecified number injured in the incident that also engulfed surrounding homes. The death toll remained provisional as officials continued to assess the scene in the densely populated area of South Kivu province.[[1]](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/10/at-least-20-killed-in-school-fire-in-rebel-held-dr-congo-city)
Rebel-appointed vice governor Dunia Masumbuko Bwenge told Reuters that 24 people had died, 19 of them girls and five boys, with 29 others wounded. A nurse at a nearby clinic, Christophe Zigashane, told AFP that his facility had received around 50 students including several teachers in a critical state of asphyxia. “Among them, 10 were dead and four others died at the scene. That makes a total of 14 deaths, all under 10 years old,” Zigashane said. Other medical sources placed the overall toll at 17 or higher, with many victims succumbing before or upon arrival at health facilities.[[2]](https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/school-fire-congos-rebel-controlled-city-bukavu-kills-least-17-sources-say-2026-09-10/)
Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed flames consuming houses as the blaze reached the two schools, eventually ravaging between 300 and 500 homes along with a local clinic according to local media. The cause of the fire has not been determined, though authorities have launched an investigation. Many of the child victims died in a stampede triggered by the sudden panic, medical staff noted, as ambulances shuttled the injured across the city throughout the day.[[1]](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/10/at-least-20-killed-in-school-fire-in-rebel-held-dr-congo-city)
Bukavu has been controlled by the Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebels since the group’s offensive last year, leaving the rebel administration to manage the response to the disaster while central government officials in Kinshasa issued condolences. A coordinator for the rebel alliance, Corneille Nangaa, told Reuters he initially estimated around 10 deaths but acknowledged the figure was incomplete. The incident underscores the vulnerability of civilian infrastructure in the rebel-held territories where public services operate under constrained conditions.[[3]](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-11/students-among-dead-after-school-fire-in-congo/107140498)
An assessment by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released in January 2026 found that nearly 1,900 schools in South Kivu, representing 22.8 percent of the provincial total, had not functioned in December 2025 due to violence, depriving more than 555,000 children of education. Across North and South Kivu, over 2,500 schools have been affected by conflict in recent years with more than 1.4 million children out of class, according to OCHA data. The latest fire comes as the deadliest reported for the education sector in the region in recent months, following a series of similar blazes.[[4]](https://actualite.cd/2026/01/26/sud-kivu-environ-1-900-etablissements-scolaires-soit-228-de-lensemble-des-ecoles-de-la)
The disaster follows a fire at a wedding venue in Kinshasa earlier this week that killed 22 people, highlighting recurring risks from fires in both urban and conflict-affected parts of the country. Local officials in Bukavu worked to provide emergency care as hospitals reported treating dozens for burns and smoke-related injuries. Provincial education authorities have yet to issue a full accounting of the impact on the affected schools.
