Fire in Bukavu, two different tolls; orange alert in Friuli, Italy

A fire that broke out on the morning of September 10, 2026 in the Chimpunda district of Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killed a number of pupils currently estimated differently by two independent sources. Radio Okapi, citing local authorities, reports a provisional toll of twenty pupils dead and several seriously injured; Le Monde, based on a dispatch from the AFP agency, published on the same September 10 a toll of at least fourteen schoolchildren killed.

The two figures are not mutually exclusive: one is a count attributed to local authorities, the other is preceded by the expression “at least”, which indicates a confirmed minimum threshold and not a total. But they must be kept distinct, along with their sources, until a national authority or a third party consolidates one. This newspaper does not choose the higher number because it is more striking, nor the lower one because it is more cautious: it publishes both and states where they come from.

On the dynamics, the available material is sparse. Radio Okapi places the start of the fire at around 08:00 on avenue Funu B, in the locality of Kasheke within the Chimpunda district, and reports that the flames struck dozens of homes. No confirmed cause appears in the sources currently available, nor a breakdown of victims between adults and minors beyond the designation of “pupils” used by local authorities. Under the rule this newspaper applies without exception, the minors involved are in no way made identifiable: no names, schools, or addresses are published.

What we do not know, in Bukavu. The cause of the ignition, the number of homes destroyed, the overall number of injured and their condition, the existence of an organized rescue operation. No communication from the central Congolese government is available. The tolls are provisional and, when provisional, they move: should the total be revised downward, we will write it as a revision and not as an improvement.

In Italy: the disturbance moves south. For Friday, September 11, the Civil Protection Department assessed an orange alert for hydrogeological risk in the eastern area of Friuli Venezia Giulia and a yellow alert for Lombardy, Veneto, part of Emilia-Romagna, other areas of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Umbria and Campania. The Atlantic disturbance is moving southeast and thunderstorm showers and strong wind gusts are expected today over the southern regions: the picture is reconstructed by Fanpage.it and ilMeteo.it, based respectively on the criticality bulletin and the adverse weather conditions notice from the Department.

The previous day left two victims: one in the province of Siena and one in the province of Udine, according to the roundup by Today.it. In Castelverde, on the outskirts of Cremona, a storm with hail and strong gusts left some homes uninhabitable and six people had to leave their houses (The Social Post).

The figure shaping the day is the direction of the weather system: the regions with the highest number of areas under alert today are not those hit yesterday, but those toward which the disturbance is moving.