Fire at girls' school in Kenya leaves 16 dead and almost 80 injured

A fire devastated a dormitory at a girls' school in a town in Kenya's Rift Valley during the early hours of the morning, killing 16 students, the government said on Thursday (28).

The fire, the cause of which has not yet been determined, began shortly after midnight at Utumishi Girls' Academy High School in Gilgil, in west-central Kenya, and lasted for more than two hours, Education Minister Julius Migos told reporters.

He said another 79 students were injured, although 71 of them have already been released from hospital.

Images shown on Kenyan television showed broken glass and walls covered in smoke as family members gathered outside the school gates seeking news of their missing loved ones.

Fires are common in Kenyan schools, with more than 100 cases recorded in 2024, according to the government. Many fires are set by students in protest against strict discipline and poor living conditions, researchers have found.

House of fire has not yet been determined
"Investigations are ongoing, but the cause of the fire has not yet been identified," reported Migos.

A 2024 fire at a primary school boarding school in neighboring Nyeri county killed 21 students. The cause was never conclusively determined.

"The fire started in an upper dome and spread throughout the school in a short time," Eunice Mureithi, whose daughter escaped the fire, told NTV television, referring to a part of the school structure. "The fire had blocked part of the dome on one side, and on the other side the students were unable to get out, but many managed to escape."

In the worst school fire in recent memory, 67 students died in 2001 at Kyanguli Secondary School on the outskirts of Nairobi, an incident authorities attributed to arson.

Source: CNN