17 students were killed when a fire ravaged a dormitory in a Kenyan boarding school

Police reported that a dormitory at a boarding school in central Kenya was the site of a fire that claimed the lives of 17 boys in the early hours of Friday.

According to Citizen Television, the victims were rendered unrecognizable by the fire.
The blaze broke out at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri, a primary boarding school for young pupils located approximately 150 km (93 miles) from the capital, Nairobi.

“The fire incident has resulted in the loss of 17 pupils and the injury of 14,” stated Resila Onyango, a spokesperson for the police. “Our team is at the scene at the moment.”

Isaac Mwaura, the spokesperson for the government, stated that the boys were between the ages of nine and thirteen. They were enrolled in grades four through eight. In a statement, he stated that the dormitory accommodated 156 students.

The cause of the fire was not readily apparent.

“After visiting the school, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki announced that all pertinent government agencies have been mobilized to investigate the cause of the fire, which resulted in the loss and injury of numerous young lives.”

“The government assures full accountabilities for all whose action or inaction contributed to this tremendous loss,” Kindiki stated regarding X.

William Ruto, the President, stated that he had directed the authorities to investigate the “horrific incident” and that those responsible would be held accountable.

According to the Interior Ministry, the school has been cordoned off by authorities, and crime scene investigators have been dispatched to the location.

The school’s primary phone line was unresponsive to calls from Reuters.

The school has a total of 824 students, with 422 of them being females and the remaining 224 being boys. Belio Kipsang, the Principal Secretary of the Education Ministry, stated in a statement that 160 of these females are boarders, while the remaining are day scholars.

Kenya has a history of school fires, many of which have been determined to be the result of arson.

In September 2017, a fire at a school in Nairobi, the capital, resulted in the deaths of nine pupils. The government has attributed the fire to arson.

In 2001, a dormitory fire at Kyanguli Secondary School, which is located outside of Nairobi, resulted in the deaths of 58 schoolboys. Eight students were fatally injured at a school in Homa Bay County, western Kenya, in 2012.