A fire at a school in the rebel-held eastern Congolese city of Bukavu has killed at least 17 people, including children, local and medical sources said on Thursday.
A witness at the scene told Reuters he had helped place the bodies of 17 men and children into an ambulance after the blaze.
A local health centre said it had received 10 bodies, while another hospital reported admitting more than 50 students injured in the fire. Fourteen of those students later died, according to the hospital.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, has been under the control of the Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebel alliance since the group seized the city during a rapid offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last year.
Corneille Nangaa, coordinator of the AFC/M23 alliance, said authorities did not yet have a confirmed casualty figure, but estimated that around 10 people had been killed.
The differing figures could not immediately be reconciled as emergency teams continued assessing the scene.
