Kenya girls’ school dormitory fire kills at least 16 students

A dormitory blaze at a girls’ boarding school in Kenya left at least 16 students dead on Thursday, according to a government official, marking another deadly school fire in the East African country.

Education Minister Julius Ogamba said 79 more students were hurt at Utumishi Girls School, an institution with more than 800 pupils in Gilgil, central Kenya.

Ogamba said investigators would examine whether the school had followed its fire safety manual.

Police said they were coordinating the rescue operation and emergency response at the campus, about 120 kilometres, or 75 miles, from Nairobi.

The government-run secondary school is sponsored and administered by the Kenya Police Service. Many pupils there are children of police officers.

Authorities had not released the names of those who died, fuelling anger and distress among parents who went to the school. Dozens remained on site, hoping to verify that their children were safe.

Elizabeth Rioba, whose two daughters attend the school, said she was thankful to find them alive but worried because one had seen a friend trapped while trying to escape through a window.

“She’s very traumatized, but I’m relieved she’s OK and I’m sad for all these children who have died,” she told The Associated Press.

Officials have not determined what started the fire.

Wambui Nderitu went to the school to check on her cousin, who is enrolled there.

“Even though my cousin escaped with a leg injury, we’ve been told many children are injured and some died,” she said.

The Kenya Red Cross said a number of students had been moved from the school and were being treated at different hospitals.

The organisation said it had sent “tracing and psychosocial support teams to support affected students and families.”

“No words can truly ease the pain of losing young lives filled with promise, hope, and dreams for the future,” President William Ruto said in a statement. “As a nation, we mourn with the parents, guardians, teachers, and fellow students who are enduring this unimaginable tragedy.”

School fires have long troubled education authorities in East Africa, where dormitories and classrooms are frequently overcrowded and firefighting equipment is often absent. Officials have at times pointed to unsafe electrical wiring as a possible trigger for such incidents.

Kenya’s worst school fire in recent memory happened in 2001, when 67 students were killed in a dormitory blaze in Machakos County.

In 2024, another school fire in central Kenya killed 21 students, after which Ruto announced three days of national mourning.

A 2017 fire at a Nairobi school killed 10 students. A student was later charged with murder.