At least 20 students from a nursery school were killed on Tuesday in a fire that ravaged the establishment, located in the Nigerien capital Niamey, according to local media on Wednesday.

"Twenty classes in straw huts were consumed by the fire and unfortunately 20 children were killed," Col. Sidi Mohamed, the head of the firefighters told the country's national broadcaster Tele Sahel.

Reached by Anadolu Agency, Halidou Mounkaila, the secretary-general of the National Trade Union of Contractual Agents and Civil Servants in Basic Education said: "25 out of 38 classrooms in the school were devastated by the fire," adding that "the provisional death toll is 20."

The school where the fire started is located on the southeastern outskirts of Niamey, not far from the airport.

Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou visited the scene and conveyed the government's "compassion" to the families of the deceased children./aa