29 high-school pupils killed in crush in Central African Republic
Africa
By
AFP
| Jun 26, 2025
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 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.
READ MORE
CBK to monitor bank customers' transactions in real-time after system upgrade
Safaricom unveils time-based internet bundles
State pushes new SEZ reforms, China trade deal to boost exports and jobs
Kenya targets funds from Japan through Samurai Bond issuance
Trump to reset Biden-era trade talks with Kenya
Ruto calls for enhanced Intra-Africa trade to combat extreme poverty
Kenyan students to showcase food security innovations in US
Kenya secures Sh22b to boost EV manufacturing, cut power costs
Diamond Trust Bank half-year profit up 10pc
New EV cover shields drivers from high repair, battery costs
"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.
According to a document circulating on social media and authenticated by the health ministry, 29 deaths were registered by hospitals in the city.
UN peacekeepers, police and other security were seen around the Barthelemy Boganda high school and hospitals.
Education Minister Aurelien-Simplice Kongbelet-Zingas said in a statement Wednesday that "measures will be taken quickly to shed light on the circumstances of this incident".
The CAR is among the poorest countries in the world and, since independence from France in 1960, has endured a succession of coups, authoritarian rulers and civil wars.
The latest civil war started more than a decade ago. The government has secured the main cities and violence has subsided in recent years.
But fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, which is backed by Wagner mercenaries and Rwandan troops.