At least 17 girls have been killed by a fire that swept through their school dormitory in northern Thailand. The fire broke out on Sunday evening when many of the girls, of ages five to 13, were asleep, said police. One official told AFP that 38 students had been in the dorm at Pithakkiart Witthaya School in Chiang Rai, which takes children from the region’s poor hill tribes. Two girls are still missing and another five were injured, two seriously, BBC reported. Police Colonel Prayad Singsin said the cause of the fire was still under investigation. Local media showed images of the two-story building consumed by flames, with firefighters tackling the fire. Deputy governor of Chiang Rai, Arkom Sukapan, said some of the students had still been awake so were able to escape. “But others were asleep and could not escape resulting in the large number of casualties.” The Nation newspaper said the victims’ bodies had been sent to a local hospital for identification, while a search continues for the two missing girls.
