Nairobi:In a tragic incident, a fire broke out in central Kenya, killing at least 17 students, a police spokesman said on Friday, while local media reported that they had been burned beyond recognition. Resila Onyango said 14 other students were seriously injured in the blaze, raising the possibility that the death toll could rise.
“We have lost 17 pupils in the fire and 14 have been injured,” Onyango told Reuters by telephone. “Our team is on the scene at the moment.” Kenyan television Citizen Television said the students killed at Hillside Endarasha Primary School in Nyeri County were burned beyond recognition in the blaze, the cause of which has yet to be determined.
A team of police officers led by CID Deputy Director John Onyango and Homicide Director Martin Nyuguto has been sent to the school to begin investigations into the incident. One of the dormitories where the students were staying caught fire and the students died. There are fears that more bodies may be recovered once the scene is fully processed, according to The Star.
The Kenya Red Cross said it is providing psychosocial support services to affected pupils, teachers and families, and has set up a search post at the school, according to the BBC. It is important to mention that school fires are relatively common in Kenyan boarding schools.
In September 2017, at least 10 students died in a fire at a girls’ boarding school in the capital, Nairobi, which authorities blamed on arson. The Kenya Red Cross said on its Twitter account that three other fires had been reported at schools in different parts of the country on the same day.
At least 67 students have died in Machakos County, southeast of Nairobi, in Kenya’s deadliest arson attack in more than 20 years. According to the government, around 350 Kenyan schools were set on fire between 2015 and 2016, compared with 76 fires between 2011 and 2013, according to an academic source. It was not clear how many fires were deliberate. Kenya is also the frequent scene of deadly protests, with angry students deliberately setting fire to their schools.
(with contributions from the agency)
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