17 girls die in Thailand school dormitory fire

PanARMENIAN.Net - Seventeen girls died after a fire swept through the dormitory of a school for children of hill tribes in northern Thailand, officials said Monday, May 23, with a survivor describing fleeing as flames engulfed the building, AFP says.

The fire started late Sunday night, meaning many of the children at the school run by a Christian charity were asleep as flames spread through the two-storey wooden building.

"The fire broke out at 11 pm on Sunday (1600 GMT). Seventeen girls were killed, with five injured," Colonel Prayad Singsin of the police in the town of Chiang Rai told AFP.

Two of the injured are in a serious condition, he said, but initial fears that two more girls were missing had been discounted after rescuers picked through the charred debris.

The school in Wiang Pa Pao district is home to girls aged between six and 13, AFP says.

Those in the dormitory on Sunday night were drawn mainly from the deprived local hill tribes, who live too far away to travel to school every day.

Television interviewed one girl aged around 10 who escaped with several friends.

"I woke up and saw a lot of smoke. It was dark. The fire had broken out downstairs so I called to my friends," she said, describing her flight.

But those who did not wake up in time died.

"There were 38 students inside the dormitory when the fire broke out. Some were not yet asleep so they escaped," deputy provincial governor Arkom Sukapan told AFP, confirming the death toll.

"But others were asleep and could not escape, resulting in the large number of casualties."