At least nine students have been confirmed dead in a fire that broke out at a high school in central Uganda on Sunday night, a police spokesperson said Monday.

Emilian Kayima told Xinhua over telephone that the fire broke out at St. Bernard's Secondary School, Mannya in the district of Rakai.

He said nine students died in the inferno, and more details about the incident would be released later.

School fires are common in Ugandan schools although most of them are not fatal.

The last fatal school fire happened in 2008, killing 19 pupils at Budo Junior School in Wakiso District in the Central Region.