13 dead in fire at Muslim school in Myanmar: police

YANGON: Thirteen people, including children, were killed after a fire broke out on Tuesday in a Muslim school in Yangon due to a suspected electrical fault, police in Myanmar's main city said.

The blaze comes against a backdrop of heightened Buddhist-Muslim tensions in Myanmar following recent sectarian clashes, but police said initial indications suggested that the blaze was accidental.

"Thirteen people, mostly children, were killed during a fire at a Muslim religious school in downtown Yangon," a police officer at the scene told AFP. "We assume that it was due to an electrical short circuit."

Firefighters extinguished the blaze, which broke out in the early hours of Tuesday morning, he said.

Police called for calm and promised to establish a committee -- including Muslim leaders -- to look into the cause after an angry crowd gathered at the scene demanding answers, according to an AFP reporter.

The building housed a mosque and a religious school where children were staying while taking a summer class. Local residents said the victims were believed to be orphans.

A second police officer said the 13 dead were among more than 70 people sleeping at the school when the fire broke out.

"The rest of the children were rescued," he said. (AFP)