At least 29 students have been killed and more than 280 have been injured following a crowd crush at a high school in the Central African Republic.
The Associated Press has reported an estimated 5,000 students were sitting their exams when an explosion occurred on school premises, prompting panic which resulted in the stampede.
Here’s what to know.
What happened?
On Wednesday (local time), students from six different schools gathered at a campus in the capital city of Bangui to sit an exam.
Education Minister Aurelien-Simplice Kongbelet-Zingas said in a statement that restoring electricity for repair work resulted in an explosion on school premises, which “triggered a panic and caused several serious injuries, unfortunately resulting in some loss of life.”
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The AP reports most of those killed died at the scene, while others died in hospital.
Response
In a post to X, CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra said he “mourn[s] the tragic loss of the 29 young lives… over 280 injured. They were our children, full of dreams. The nation stands united in grief.”
Touadéra declared three days of national mourning “in tribute to the victims of the tragedy”.
Kongbelet-Zingas said he “deeply deplored this regrettable situation” and that “measures will be taken quickly to clarify the circumstances of this incident”.
