Sixteen students have been killed in a fire at a boarding school in Gilgil, about 120km (77 miles) north-west of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, authorities have confirmed.
Dozens of other students were injured and taken to hospital. Seventy-one were later discharged, while seven were admitted for further treatment, Education Minister Julius Ogamba said while visiting the scene of the blaze. He said the cause of the fire had not yet been established and investigations were ongoing.
The fire at Utumishi Girls Academy started in the early hours of Thursday as the students were asleep.
Anxious parents and relatives have been gathering at the scene, waiting for news of their loved ones.
The education minister said the fire broke out on the first floor of one of the dormitories, which was “completely destroyed” in the blaze.
“The response teams managed to put out the fire by about 03:00, but by then the damage had already been done,” he said.
He added that the school would begin releasing students to their parents and guardians throughout the day as authorities continue investigations.
Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen, who was also among the officials gathered at the school, sent his condolences to the bereaved families.
“It’s a very anxious moment and even as we account for the 16 so far identified as having passed on, I want to ask the people of Kenya that together we stand with the families… in prayer, in support.
“I ask everyone to be patient and avoid speculation,” he said.
Earlier, while speaking to parents and crowds outside the school, police commander Masoud Mwinyi said: “It is a sad and distressing situation.”
Fires are not uncommon in Kenyan boarding schools, with several deadly incidents reported in recent years. Many have been the result of arson, with disgruntled pupils, angry about discipline and living conditions, accused of being responsible, while others were caused by accidents.
Overcrowding in dormitories and failure to follow safety guidelines, such as keeping exits clear and windows unlocked, have frequently been blamed for the high number of casualties.
According to police, the fire in Gilgil broke out around 01:00 local time (22:00 GMT Wednesday) and engulfed a dormitory block housing about 220 students.
More than 800 children were in the school at the time of the tragedy.
Earlier in the morning, Mwinyi said some students who had fled into nearby areas during the chaos were still being traced.
“As we speak, our officers are combing the area because some students fled in shock and fear during the night,” he said.
Leah Serem, whose daughter is a final-year student at the school, said the news of the fire came as a shock. She said she travelled alongside other parents to the school from the Rift Valley town of Nakuru, about 40km away.
“We were anxious because we didn’t know whether our children were alive,” she said, adding that there was a lot of sadness when they arrived at the compound.
‘We are praying for parents’
Serem met her daughter several hours later.
“I was very happy and thanked God,” she told reporters. She said that her daughter did not know how the fire started and had told her that students were waking each other up when the dormitory caught fire.
“We are praying for parents who have not yet met their children… we ask Kenyans to pray for us and remain calm as the cause of the fire is investigated,” Serem said.
“We’ve been here since 06:00. They’re not telling us where our daughter is,” one parent told the BBC in tears.
She said her 17-year-old daughter was in her final year at the school.
“We have searched all hospitals around here. The teachers aren’t telling us anything,” the mother said. “No one came to their rescue.”
Wambui Nderitu, whose cousin is a student at the school, said family members coming to the scene were met with confusion and fear.
“When we arrived at the school, we were told to queue. Most of us were so worried because we had heard some students had died and others were injured and in hospital.”
She said some students were injured after jumping from the upper floor of the dormitory while trying to escape.
“Some of those on the top floor had to jump out, that’s why they are injured.”
Nderitu said her cousin survived the fire but suffered a broken leg. “I found her… she is fine… but she has a broken leg,” she explained.
Kenya has had a long history of school fires, with the deadliest being in 2001 when 67 students died in Machakos County, south-east of the capital, after some students set fire to a dormitory.
In 2024, at least 21 people died in a dormitory fire in central Kenya.
The Ministry of Education’s assessment of schools’ compliance with safety standards later that year found that most “had dormitories with grills on the windows, single exits and doors that opened inwards, hence compromising the safety of the occupants”.
Congestion was also found to be common in schools. Following the review, the ministry said it had closed “348 schools with immediate effect”.
In November 2021, the Ministry of Education issued a response to a parliamentary committee which had requested more information on school arson and revealed that there were 126 such cases between January and November 2020.
The Reuters news agency quoted research from 2018 saying that 60 cases of arson were recorded that year.
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