Wedding Party Fire Kills 22 in Kinshasa
Wedding Party Fire Kills 22 in Kinshasa
The News
At least 22 people were killed when a fire swept a wedding party in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, the local mayor said Saturday.
The blaze broke out overnight Friday inside a building in Lingwala, in northern Kinshasa, and burned into early Saturday morning. Several other people were injured.
Norbert Mushinga, the mayor of Lingwala, told the Congolese Press Agency the provisional toll is 22 and warned it could rise. The exact cause of the fire is unconfirmed.
What Happened Inside
The building's narrow hallways were constricted with people trying to escape, according to the Associated Press. Victims — some alive, some dead — were laid by the roadside as other guests tried to help the survivors.
Timeline
A fire starts in a building in Lingwala, northern Kinshasa, where a wedding party is underway.
The fire continues into the morning hours. Guests and onlookers pull victims into the street.
Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani visits the site.
Mayor Norbert Mushinga puts the provisional death toll at 22 and says it may climb.
Reactions
"It is a tragedy," said Jacquemin Shabani, Congo's deputy prime minister and interior minister, who went to the scene Saturday morning.
Mushinga, in confirming the toll to the Congolese Press Agency, cautioned that the count was provisional and could rise further.
What's Next
Officials have not identified a cause. The death toll remains provisional and is expected to change as recovery work continues and the injured are treated.
Whether building safety conditions or the absence of fire services contributed is, so far, unanswered by authorities.
More
Deadly fires are common in Kinshasa's densely populated areas, where urban development has outrun basic provisions such as fire services, the AP reports. They cluster in the dry season, and local media have counted several already this year.
The fire comes as Congo fights the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record. Health Ministry figures released Wednesday count 6,186 infections and 3,007 deaths since the outbreak was declared an international health emergency in mid-May, with the virus now in six provinces. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control assessment Tuesday said control measures "remained below established response targets" and described "uncontrolled expansion of the outbreak."
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