Save the Children International (SCI) Liberia Office expresses shock over the death of 28 persons, mostly school children, who died in a fire disaster at an Islamic school during the early morning hours of Wednesday, September 18, 2019, in Paynesville City, Liberia.
Country Manager, Mr. Joseph Yarsiah said, the death of the children is of serious concern to SCI, urging the bereaved families and the Muslim community of Liberia to take solace in this time of great bereavement.
“The entire country is shock and in dismay, with deep regrets. All our children should be protected and given a chance to live. All of us, INGOs, Government, parents, and citizens have to all commit to doing more for child protection, both physical and emotional”, Mr. Yarsiah laments.
According to a release issued in Monrovia, Mr. Yarsiah says SCI’s workforce remains in sympathy with families of the fallen kids, stressing that measures be taken to prevent a recurrence. He expresses his organization’s condolence to the bereaved families and the Muslim Community.
Fire gutted the Quran Memory Institute early Wednesday morning in Bassa Community, Paynesville, outside Monrovia. The incident was said to have occurred when the students were asleep in a dormitory attached to the school building.
The cause of the fire has not been established, but some community members have attributed it to an electrical fault. The children have since been buried in accordance with Islamic rites.
Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organization for children with a mission to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.
