ISTANBUL — Police in southern Turkey detained 12 people on Wednesday and sought two others over a fire in a dormitory that killed 11 schoolgirls and one other person and injures 24 others, an official at the prosecutor’s office handling the investigation said.

Flames swept through the mostly wooden interior of the two-story dormitory in the town of Aladag late on Tuesday, causing the roof to collapse. Images from the scene showed shattered windows as pupils tried to escape by jumping out.

Prosecutors in the nearby district of Kozan issued arrest warrants for 14 people, including the staff of the dormitory and executives from the foundation that runs it, they said in a statement. Twelve have been arrested, the official said.

One of the people detained was the dormitory manager, the state-run Anadolu agency said. .

European Affairs Minister Omer Celik, a ruling AK Party lawmaker who represents the surrounding province in the national parliament, said the suspected cause was an electrical fault.

But the opposition complained of lax regulation and criticized an education policy that has seen a growing number of such dormitories set up to house poor students from villages where there are no state schools.

Local media said the dormitory was run by one of the several religious movements in Turkey that operate such facilities.

“As part of the investigation launched into this grave incident,” the prosecutors stated, “three prosecutors have been assigned to identify if there is any negligence with regards to the fire and to bring those responsible to justice.”

Dozens of people tried to gather outside the Education Ministry in Ankara to protest after the fire, but police detained many of them before the demonstration began, a Reuters witness said.