At least 17 students have died after a fire broke out at a dormitory in a boarding school in central Kenya on Thursday night, according to police.
The death toll could increase, as more than a dozen others are in the hospital with severe burns.
The cause of the fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy, a primary school in Nyeri County, remains unknown.
President William Ruto described the fire as “horrific” and “devastating,” and ordered an investigation, stating, “Those responsible will be held to account” on social media.
A team of investigators has been sent to the scene, police confirmed. The fire erupted around midnight local time while over 150 students were in the dormitory, according to police chief Pius Murugu.
The blaze spread rapidly as many of the buildings were made of timber, noted a Citizen TV journalist.
Police spokesperson Resila Onyango told AFP that the bodies recovered were “burnt beyond recognition” and warned that “more bodies are likely to be recovered once (the) scene is fully processed.”
The Kenya Red Cross is offering trauma counselling to students, teachers, and affected families and has set up a tracing desk at the school.
Hillside Endarasha Academy, a private primary school near Nyeri town, houses more than 800 students aged 5 to 12.
School fires are not uncommon in Kenyan boarding schools. In 2017, an arson attack at Moi Girls High School in Nairobi killed 10 students, and more than 67 students lost their lives in the deadliest school arson in Machakos County over 20 years ago.
Source-BBC
