Stampede kills 14 girls in Saudi school fire

Fourteen girls were crushed to death in a stampede after a fire broke out at their school in Saudi Arabia's Muslim holy city …

Fourteen girls were crushed to death in a stampede after a fire broke out at their school in Saudi Arabia's Muslim holy city of Mecca today, officials said.

Fifty students were also injured as they rushed downstairs to escape the fire which gutted the roof of the girls school, education officials said in a report read on state television.

Relatives had earlier said they believed at least 15 girls had been killed and blamed overcrowding at the school, a three-storey building, and poor safety facilities.