Fire kills 11 students and a tutor at school in southern Turkey

A fire at a school in Turkey.
(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images)

A fire that swept through a dormitory for students at a school in southern Turkey on Tuesday night killed 11 schoolgirls and one tutor, and left 22 injured.

The girls were between the ages of 11 and 14, and many died when they were unable to open the door that led to fire escape stairs, the mayor of Adana told Agence France-Presse. The building's wooden interior and carpet fueled the flames, which took three hours to extinguish. The roof collapsed, and many girls panicked and tried to jump out the windows of the three-story building. An investigation is underway, with local officials saying it was probably an electrical fire.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.