At least eleven children died in a fire in a school for the blind in Uganda. According to reports from "ABC News", the victims are said to be girls, some of whom are said to have been between seven and ten years old. Six other victims were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, the police said on Twitter on Tuesday. Many other children were injured.

The fire broke out in the early hours of the morning in a dormitory at the Salaam School for the Blind near the town of Mukono in the center of the East African country, police spokesman Luke Oweyesigire told the German Press Agency. The cause of fire was unclear for the moment.

Francis Kinubi, the school's founder, stated that there was a lack of adequate safety equipment such as fire extinguishers. The school has asked the government to do so in the past, but so far to no avail.

Sources: AFP, DPA, ABC News