Children killed in Bukavu school fire laid to rest

victims of a deadly fire and stampede at a school in Bukavu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, have been laid to rest. Relatives and members of the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group gathered to pay tribute.

Africa Sep 16 2026

Sep14: The coffins were taken to Ruzizi cemetery, where mourners gathered for the burial ceremony. Red Cross workers also attended the funeral.

UNICEF says at least 26 children were killed in the fire and the stampede that followed on September 10

According to a statement from the provincial coordination of Civil Society of South Kivu, sent to Agenzia Fides, “in less than a week, hundreds of homes, two schools, a church and a row of 66 shops in the Kadutu market have been reduced to ashes.”

The fires include 40 homes in Ponzi, where three people died, leaving 174 families homeless in Nyamugo. Citing figures from the Congolese administration based in Uvira, the last stronghold of the Kinshasa government in South Kivu, the statement says that 2,500 homes were destroyed by fire between July and August this year.

The circumstances surrounding the fire and the stampede remain unclear

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