A fire during a house-warming party in central Madagascar killed 38 people including 16 children as the blaze ripped through a thatched roof, police said on Monday. "Of the 39 people in the house, 38 were killed, including 16 children," Herilalatiana Andrianarivosona, spokesman for the police, told AFP, adding that the fire was an accident. Other villagers tried to rescue the people trapped inside but failed to open the door. The victims were trapped inside the house in Ambalavato village of Ikalamavony district in the rural centre of the Indian Ocean island on Saturday night. The party-goers, including several relatives of the house owner, were celebrating the renovation of the house.

Source: dna July 25, 2016 17:58 UTC