Fire at Kenyan boarding school kills 17 children

Nairobi. A fire left 17 children dead and 14 others injured when it swept through the bedroom where they were sleeping at a boarding school in central Kenya early Friday, police said.

Citizen Television said the fire burned the victims beyond recognition.

The fire occurred at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri, a primary boarding school for young students about 150 kilometres from the capital, Nairobi.

“We have lost 17 pupils in the fire and 14 others have been injured,” said police spokeswoman Resila Onyango. “Our team is currently on the scene.”

Government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said the boys were between fourth and eighth grade, meaning they were between nine and 13 years old. He added in a statement that the dormitory housed 156 students.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

“All relevant government agencies have been deployed… (to) seek the truth about what caused the fire that led to the loss and injury of so many young souls,” Home Affairs Minister Kithure Kindiki said after visiting the school.

“The government guarantees full accountability to all those whose action or inaction contributed to this tremendous loss,” Kindiki wrote on X.

President William Ruto said he had asked authorities to investigate what he called the “horrible incident” and that those responsible would be held accountable.

Authorities cordoned off the school and sent investigators to the crime scene, the Interior Ministry said.

Calls by Reuters to the school’s main phone line went unanswered.

The school has a total of 824 students, of which 422 are girls and the rest boys. Of these, 160 girls are boarders and the rest are day pupils, said Belio Kipsang, principal secretary of the Ministry of Education, in a statement.

Kenya has a history of school fires, many of which turned out to be arson. Nine students died in September 2017 in a fire at a school in the capital, Nairobi, which the government blamed on arson.

In 2001, 58 students died in a fire at a dormitory at Kyanguli Secondary School on the outskirts of Nairobi. In 2012, eight students died at a school in Homa Bay County, western Kenya.