Fire guts Ruhango school dorm

BARELY A DAY after the second academic term opened, more than 400 O-Level students at Ecole de Sciences de Byimana were, yesterday, sent home after their dormitory was destroyed in inferno.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Fire fighters try to contain the fire. The New Times/ Courtesy.

BARELY A DAY after the second academic term opened, more than 400 O-Level students at Ecole de Sciences de Byimana were, yesterday, sent home after their dormitory was destroyed in inferno.The cause of the fire is not yet clear, but school authorities said they suspect it was caused by a short-circuit.The fire started shortly after 8am, just minutes after the students started their lessons, the Director, Brother Alphonse Gahima, told The New Times.No student was hurt in the fire, he added.The dormitory, which was almost reduced to ash, housed 277 O-Level male students, authorities said.Property of the dorm’s occupants was burnt by the time fire fighters arrived at the scene.According to Gahima, the incident has pushed the school to temporarily send all O-Level students back home while efforts are made to organise support."We are doing our best to ensure that lessons for the students resume within a week or two,” he said, adding that the school was in touch with the ministries of education and disaster management.The Minister of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs Seraphine Mukantabana visited the school after the incident.