A fire at a school dormitory in Kenya has killed 17 students and severely burned 13 others, police said Friday.
There are fears the death toll could rise, police said.
The cause of the fire that broke out on Thursday night at Hillside Endarasha Primary School in Nyeri County is under investigation, police spokeswoman Resila Onyango said. The school caters for children up to the age of 14.
Nyeri County Commissioner Pius Murugu and the Ministry of Education said more than 150 children lived in the dormitory that caught fire. As most of the buildings are made of wooden planks, the fire spread very quickly.
The school, which has 824 students, is located in the country’s central highlands, 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi, where wooden structures are common.
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Distraught parents who had been unable to find their children among the survivors waited at the school, lost in grief.
President William Ruto described the news as “devastating”.
“I instruct the relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible must be held accountable,” he wrote on social media platform X.
His deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, urged school administrators to ensure that safety guidelines recommended by the Ministry of Education for boarding schools are followed.
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Fires in Kenyan boarding schools are common, often caused by drug use and overcrowding, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Education. Many students stay in school because their parents believe it gives them more time to study without having to travel too far.
Some fires have been started by students during protests over workload or living conditions. In 2017, 10 high school students died in a school fire started by a student in Nairobi.
The deadliest school fire occurred in 2001, when 67 students died in a dormitory in Machakos County.
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