2002 Mecca girls' school fire
Incident in Saudi Arabia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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21.416°N 39.816°E / 21.416; 39.816
Date | 11 March 2002 |
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Location | Mecca, Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia |
Deaths | 15 |
Non-fatal injuries | 50 |
Property damage | School |
The 2002 Mecca girls' school fire occurred on 11 March 2002 at a girls' school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and killed fifteen people, all young girls. Complaints were made that Saudi Arabia's "religious police", specifically the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, had prevented schoolgirls from leaving the burning building and hindered emergency services personnel because the students were not wearing modest clothing. The actions of the religious police were condemned both inside the country and internationally. A Saudi government inquiry concluded that religious educational authorities were responsible for neglecting fire safety of the school, but rejected the accusation that the actions of religious police contributed to the deaths and that they stopped anyone from leaving because of modest clothing. In the aftermath, the General Presidency for Girls' Education was dissolved and merged with the Ministry of Education.