22 injured in Saudi Arabian school blaze

05 Oct, 2004

A blaze at a primary school in Saudi Arabia injured 22 young girls on Monday, civil defence officials said.
They said the fire, which broke out at the Umm Salamah girls' primary school in the holy city Makkah was caused by an electrical short circuit.
Most of the injured girls suffered smoke inhalation. It was not immediately clear what age they were.
There are 250, mainly African nationals, enrolled at the school.
Two years ago 15 young girls were killed when a fire gutted their school after government-subsidised religious police prevented them from fleeing or being rescued because they were not veiled.
The deaths caused an uproar and forced authorities to take full control over girls' schools from the clergy.

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