20 Children Killed in Niger School Blaze (Photos)

At least 20 children died late Tuesday, as they were trapped in a fire at a school in Niger's capital, Niamey, government officials said.

The head of Niger's fire service Colonel Bako Boubacar revealed that "There were 20 deaths, most of them young children," noting that the reason of the fire was unknown.

Moreover, fire service commander Sidi Mohamed told public television that firefighters attended the scene quickly, but "the power of the fire was enormous", the AFP news agency reports.

On Wednesday morning, parents gathered and waited at the Pays Bas Primary School to find out about arrangements for burying their children, BBC reported.

A man who lost his six-year-old son in the fire urged the government to construct safe schools for children.

"Let's not put everything in the hands of God, let's not put everything in the hands of the state," he told the BBC.

"We have lost 20 children in a fraction of a second - we must call on the state to say that hut classes should no longer exist anywhere in the country."

Furthermore, teachers' union official Mounkaila Halidou stated that there were about 800 students attending the school, affirming that "Those who died were mostly in the pre-school."

The fire broke out when the children were having their lessons, many in straw-hut classrooms.

Accordingly, the children tried to escape over a wall as the flames blocked the school gate, but most of those who did not manage to escape were attending the school's nursery, officials say.