Seven children dead in fire at DR Congo camp for mudslide victims

BUKAVU (DR Congo): A fire that broke out at a camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo for hundreds of families that fled fatal flash floods and mudslides in May has killed seven children, local authorities said on Sunday.

The camp in Mushonezo is home to around 420 families from Bushushu, a village on Lake Kivu near the eastern border with Rwanda. The village was hammered by fierce rain and landslides that killed at least 400 people in May.

The blaze erupted on Saturday afternoon and killed seven children — “two small boys and four small girls, aged one to five years old”, said Thomas Bakenga, regional administrator for the Kalehe region.