A fire at a boarding school in Liberia is believed to have killed at least 26 children.
Police said the fire, which broke out at around midnight last night, gutted a dormitory and one other building at the Islamic school.
Only the imam and two students managed to escape the school blaze, which happened about seven miles east of the capital Monrovia, and they remain in a critical condition.
A government spokesperson told CNN that at least 26 children have died as well as two teachers.
According to CNN, presidential press secretary Isaac Solo Kelgbeh said children as young as 10 were unable to escape because there was no fire exit and the windows had steel security bars on.
Police have told the BBC they are still looking for bodies in the building, in the Paynesville area.
Hundreds of grief-stricken people stood in shock as ambulances took away the bodies, while others wailed and wept as police pushed back a surging crowd, the Associated Press reports.
The president of the West African nation, George Weah, visited the scene and was due to attend the victims' funeral at a Monrovia mosque before burial later in the day.
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Pastor Emmanuel Herbert, of a nearby church, Fire World Pentecostal Assembly, said he and his congregation woke up to sounds of the fire and called for help.
"When I turned around to look, the entire place was red. When I looked through the window, I saw the whole place blazing with fire," he said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
