Liberia school fire 27 dead near Monrovia

At least 27 people, many of them children, have been killed in a fire at a boarding school in a suburb of the Liberian capital Monrovia.

The fire is believed to have broken out in the early hours of the morning, when Koranic school students were sleeping in a building near their mosque.

Police have told the BBC they are still looking for bodies in the building, in the Paynesville area.

Police spokesman Moses Carter told Reuters news agency that the fire was caused by an electrical problem, but investigations are continuing.

Eyewitness Pastor Emmanuel Herbert told that he woke up to sounds of the fire and raised the alarm.”When I looked through the window, I saw the whole place blazing with fire,” he told But he said he could not get into the building because there was only one entrance, which was blocked.Our correspondent Jonathan Paye-Layleh reports that Red Cross ambulances have already taken bodies away from the scene.

He adds large crowds gathered near the school in the wake of the disaster, and people wailed and wept as the ambulances tried to get through.