Thailand, 23 May : At least 17 girls ranging from 5 to 13 years old have been killed by a fire which swept through their school dormitory in northern Thailand.

Police Said, the fire broke out on Sunday evening when many of the girls were asleep. A Police Official says five other girls were injured, two of them in serious condition.

Police told that 38 students had been in the dorm at Pithakkiart Witthaya school in Chiang Rai.

Police Says two of the bodies were so badly burned they were unidentifiable.

Police Col Prayad Singsin said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.

Firefighters took three hours to extinguish the fire, and pulled survivors and bodies from the second-story window of the wooden building.