Bukavu, September 10, 2026 – A fire swept through two primary schools in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 26 children and injuring 25 others on Wednesday morning, UNICEF has confirmed. The blaze started around 9:00 am local time while pupils were in lessons at Ujamaa and Furaha primary schools in the Chimpunda district.
UNICEF is deeply saddened and alarmed by the recent fire in Bukavu, South Kivu, that broke out on 10 September that claimed the lives of at least 26 children and injured 25 others. We extend our sincere condolences to the bereaved families and express our solidarity with the children, families, and communities affected by this tragedy.
The statement from John Agbor, UNICEF Representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo, added that 11 children separated from their parents were successfully reunited with their families. UNICEF dispatched emergency medical and psychosocial teams.
Eyewitness News (EWN) quoted a teacher at Ujamaa school, Simon Kasamira, who described the panic as the wooden structure caught fire.
In the middle of class, I suddenly heard students screaming, some were jumping from the upper floors, and others were running away through the doors. Parents came from all over looking for their children. That’s when I saw a huge fire engulfing our school built of wooden planks.
Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, has been controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group since February 2025. M23 officials told reporters that the victims included 20 girls and 6 boys, and the group declared three days of mourning.
The tragedy comes just days after a separate fire destroyed more than 45 houses in the same city, highlighting the acute fire risk in densely packed hillside communities where buildings are often constructed from timber and lack adequate spacing. Congolese cities generally lack firefighting equipment, and blazes are frequently linked to illegal electricity connections.
South Africa, which has a contingent of soldiers deployed in the region as part of the SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC) supporting government forces against M23, has long been invested in regional stability. The fire’s toll resonates locally, given the perennial risk of blazes in the overcrowded informal settlements of the Cape Flats, where flammable shack materials and inadequate services regularly lead to loss of life.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, said such a large loss of young lives could not be reduced to a statistic.
A tragedy of such magnitude, which has shattered the dreams and futures of so many children, cannot become just another news story.
An unconfirmed Congolese education ministry report, seen by AFP, claimed fires broke out simultaneously at three locations about 500 metres apart, but this detail has not been independently verified by a second source. UNICEF did not comment on the cause, focusing instead on the immediate humanitarian response and the need to protect children in the volatile region.
Funerals for the victims were expected in the days following the fire. UNICEF said it would continue providing psychosocial support, while local authorities were yet to announce any formal investigation into what sparked the deadly blaze.