Nigerian school blaze probe

By Barnaby Phillips in Kanu, Nigeria

Nigerian police are investigating the cause of a fire which killed at least 23 girls who were locked inside a school hostel.

The victims were among 165 girls staying at the secondary school hostel in Gindiri in the central Nigerian state of Plateau.

The girls were trapped inside the hostel and unable to flee the fire when it broke out late on Monday.

The windows and doors had been secured to prevent the girls from leaving at night and to stop intruders from entering.

Rescue

Villagers heard the screams from inside the hostel and broke down a wall from the outside.

Their quick action enabled the majority of girls to escape.

Several with serious burn injuries have been taken to local hospitals, as has the matron of the hostel.

The state government has declared three days of mourning.

A journalist, who travelled to the school located some 50km (30 miles) from the state capital, Jos, said the hostel had been burnt to the ground.

Relatives, many of them hysterical with grief, had also gathered there.

Local politicians visited the school on Wednesday and expressed shock and sympathy.