The Monrovia suburb of Paynesville was a town in mourning Friday, as residents sought to come to terms with the loss of 27 pupils in a huge
fire at a Liberian Koranic school.
“How do you expect me to feel in this condition?” said Isatu Sow, mother of one of the victims, who was among the first to arrive at the Bassa Town Community mosque ahead of Friday prayers.
Only eight of the 36 people inside the building survived when the fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning as the victims, who were all of Guinean origin, slept in the school dormitory.