18 Girls, Matron Die in Tuvalu Dorm Fire
Fire swept through a locked dormitory at a high school in the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu, killing 18 teenage girls and a matron, a government spokesman said today.
The blaze was believed to have been caused by a student’s candle that toppled over in the sleeping quarters of Motufoua Secondary School. The dorm was an old wooden building whose doors had been fastened shut and whose windows were covered with wire mesh.
The victims, girls ranging in age from 14 to 17, couldn’t escape when the fire broke out late Thursday, Radio Tuvalu reporter Diana Semi said. She said the matron died as she attempted to reach the girls.
Tuvalu is one of the world’s smallest countries in both population and size. Its 10,000 people live on 10 square miles of coral atolls about 620 miles north of Fiji.
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