Kampala, Uganda  - A 10-year old girl, who rescued an unknown number of her classmates from a school dormitory fire on April 14 before she and 19 others died in the inferno, is to be declared a national heroine, the Ugandan parliament confirmed Friday.

Yvonne Namaganda braved the fire that engulfed a dormitory in a girls' boarding school south-west of Kampala, removing one by one her schoolmates, but she failed to make it out alive.

Parliament sat Thursday and passed a motion that will turn the late schoolgirl into a national heroine, parliamentary spokeswoman Helen Kawesa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"Parliament made the resolution yesterday to recognize the girl's bravery. The resolution was passed to government and government will pass it to cabinet for the final decision," Kawesa said by telephone.

Police had hinted that the incident might have been an act of arson and immediately launched an investigation. The dormitory matron, 10 school security guards and a former head teacher were arrested soon after the fire.

They have appeared in court and were charged with negligence of duty. (dpa)