ENDARASHA, Kenya: At least 17 students have died following a fire ripped through their school dormitory overnight in Kenya, police said on Friday.
The fire in Nyeri county’s Hillside Endarasha Academy erupted at around midnight, police said, engulfing rooms where the children were sleeping.
The primary school caters to some 800 students aged between roughly five and 12.
“There are 17 fatalities from this incident and there are also others who were taken to hospital with serious injuries,” national police spokesperson Resila Onyango told media. She added the dead bodies recovered at the scene were beyond recognition.
According to police the average age of the victims was around nine years old. Several others were wounded, Onyango said, 16 of them seriously, and had been shifted to a nearby hospital.
She feared that more bodies are likely to be recovered once. The cause of the fire is still not known remains, but an investigation had been launched.
President of Kenya William Ruto has expressed his condolences for those killed.
“Our thoughts are with the families of the children who have lost their lives in the fire tragedy,” he said in a post on X. He termed the news as devastating.
He had directed officials to investigate this horrific incident thoroughly, and promised that those responsible will be held accountable.
The school is situated around 170 kilometres away from capital Nairobi, in Nyeri county. The Kenyan Red Cross said it was helping a multi-agency response team.
In a post on X, it said it was giving psychosocial support services to the students, teachers and affected families.
Deadly Fires
There have been numerous school fire incidents in Kenya and across East Africa. In 2016, nine pupils were killed by a fire at a girls’ high school in the Kibera area of Nairobi.
In 2001, 67 students were killed by a fire attack on their dormitory at the Kyanguli Mixed Secondary School David Mutiso in Machakos district.
Two students were charged with the murder, and the headmaster and deputy of the school were convicted of negligence.
In 1994, 40 school children were burned alive and 47 wounded in a fire that devastated the Shauritanga Secondary School for Girls in Tanzania.
