Fire at Thailand Christian School Leaves 18 Dead

Eighteen school girls were killed when a fire swept through their school dormitory in northern Thailand.

The girls--all between 5 and 12--were asleep at the private Pitakiatwittaya Christian School in the Chiang Rai Province, when the fire broke out late Sunday.

"It is still very chaotic here," the school's manager Rewat Wassana told CNN. "We are in the process of identifying bodies, none of the parents can claim their children's bodies yet."

A total of 38 girls were sleeping in the dorm at the time of the fire. Firefighters rescued 20 girls, including five who were injured. 

CBS News reports that an 11-year-old girl who escaped said that she noticed the fire when she got up to go the bathroom. She said she ran to tell her friends in various rooms but some of them didn't believe her and closed the door and went back to sleep.

"We have a teacher who sleeps with the girls in the dorm. She tried to help the students escape," Rewat told reporters at a news conference broadcast on local television.

Chief of the Chiang Rai fire unit, Sawang Momdee, said they tried to save everyone but the fire spread very fast.

The school, about 500 miles north of Bangkok, has been operating for five years and provides free education to children from pre-elementary to sixth grade. Most of the students are from poor families from surrounding villages.

CBN News reported on similar Christian schools in Thailand and Indonesia. The Elpis School provides free education to Burmese child refugees in northern Thailand.

Poor children in Jakarta, Indonesia are also receiving a free education.

Meanwhile, the cause of the fire at the Pitakiatwittaya Christian School is under investigation. Another dorm for boys was untouched by the fire.