World News
Deadly Fire at Girls Dormitory Kills 11 Students in Aladag, Turkey
Security officials stand out the damaged building in Aladag, Adana, Turkey, Wednesday. Authorities have detained six people in connection with the deadly fire. (Associated Press)
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ALADAG – Turkish Authorities imposed a news blackout on a fire in a dormitory at a girls school which killed 12 people in southern Turkey, as an official admitted a fire exit was most probably locked.
 The fire blazed through the three-story dormitory housing middle school students in the town of Aladag, in southern Adana province, late on Tuesday.
Officials said 11 students and a teacher were killed and two others seriously injured.
The fire was believed to be caused by an electrical fault.
Medics carry a wounded student to an ambulance in Aladag, Adana in southern Turkey.
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The state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Adana Mayor Huseyin Sozlu as saying on Wednesday that either the fire door was locked or the panicking students were unable to open it.
He added: “Most probably it was locked.”
Authorities imposed a temporary media blackout that restricts coverage of the fire in Turkey, citing public order concerns and possible impediments to the investigation.
The U.S. Embassy issued a message of sympathy on Twitter that read: “We are deeply saddened by news of the tragic fire in Adana and send our condolences to the families of those killed.”
In May of 2016 a terrible fire has swept through the Pitakiatwittaya School in the Wiang Pa Pao district of Chiang Rai, killing at least 17 in their dormitory.
Many of the students were reportedly asleep when the fire broke out in the two-story building and were unable to escape.
