29 high-school pupils killed in a stampede in Central African Republic
IOL A total of 29 pupils have been killed in a stampede.
At least 29 pupils who were sitting their high school exams in the Central African Republic have been killed in a stampede after the explosion of a power transformer set off panic, the health ministry told AFP on Thursday.
Just over 5,300 students were sitting the second day of the baccalaureat exams when the explosion happened on Wednesday in the capital, Bangui.
In the panic, supervisors and students tried to flee, some jumping from the first floor of the school.
The injured were transported by ambulance, on the back of pickup trucks or by motorbike taxi, AFP journalists saw.
"I would like to express my solidarity and compassion to the parents of the deceased candidates, to the educational staff, to the students," President Faustin Archange Touadera said in a video published on his party's Facebook page.
Touadera, who is attending a summit of the Gavi vaccine alliance in Brussels, also announced three days of national mourning.
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