ISTANBUL // A fire at a middle school dormitory for girls in southern Turkey left 12 people dead and 22 injured on Tuesday night, a Turkish governor and state-run media said.
Adana governor Mahmut Demirtas said one teacher and 11 students were killed in the fire in the town of Aladag and the wounded were taken to a hospital, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, which described the building as a middle school dormitory for girls.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, Mr Demirtas said the dormitory had 34 people and the fire may have been caused by an electrical problem. No one was left in the building, he said.
Anadolu quoted Adana mayor Huseyin Sozlu as saying on Wednesday that either the fire door was locked or that the panicked students were unable to open it.
He added: “Most probably it was locked.”
Authorities, meanwhile, imposed a temporary media blackout that restricts coverage of the fire, citing public order concerns and possible impediments to the investigation.
Turkish television showed flames rising from a three-story building and firefighters battling the blaze. Several windows on the building were scorched black and ashen debris littered the dormitory entrance. Footage broadcast by TRT showed a man being evacuated in an ambulance stretcher with an oxygen mask on.
Interior minister Suleyman Soylu and deputy prime minister Veysi Kaynak were heading to the scene, according to Anadolu.
* Associated Press
