Fire kills 17 students in Kenyan boarding school

At least 17 students have been killed and 14 others seriously injured in a tragic fire in the dormitory of a primary school boarding school in central Kenya.

The fire occurred overnight at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri.

National Police Service spokesperson Dr Resila Onyango confirmed the tragic incident and said teams had been dispatched to the school in Kieni constituency in Nyeri.

Homicide investigators from Hillside Academy, Nyeri, are investigating the cause of the dormitory fire that left 17 students dead and 14 others injured pic.twitter.com/Q0eNdSv5es

— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) 6 September 2024

At least 16 of them were confirmed dead at the scene and another died on arrival at hospital, Dr Onyango said.

“The 16 children were burned beyond recognition, one died on the way to the hospital,” said the police spokesman. FM radio.

According to Dr. Onyango, the investigative team that has already rushed to the crime scene is led by the Deputy Head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), John Onyango, as well as a team from the Office of the Inspector General of Police and a team from the Homicide Squad.

Shocked parents at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni, Nyeri County, where 17 students died in an overnight fire. At least 13 others are in hospital.

“This was a fire in a dormitory. It happened at night and we are yet to determine what might have caused it,” said Dr Onyango.

At the time of the interview at 9am, Dr Onyango said there was no confirmation whether the fire had been fully contained.

Initially there were fears that more bodies of young students were trapped, but there is no concrete confirmation of this so far.

Parents await news of Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County, where 17 children died in a nighttime fire on September 6, 2024.

sympathy

President William Ruto expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and ordered a thorough investigation into the incident, promising to bring those responsible to justice.

“Our thoughts are with the families of the children who lost their lives in the fire tragedy at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County. This is devastating news. We pray for a speedy recovery of the survivors,” President Ruto said on his official social media platforms.

He continued: “I instruct the relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible will be held accountable.”

A concerned parent at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County on September 6, 2024.

President Ruto said the government, under the leadership of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the coordination of the national government, was mobilising “all necessary resources to assist the affected families”.

At the same time, Vice President Rigathi Gachagua mourned the loss of the students.

“We mourn together with the families, the school and the rest of the country for these young deceased. We pray for a speedy recovery of the survivors of this inferno. May God give the families the strength to bear the loss. We ask the schools to enforce the security measures established by the Ministry of Education and other authorities to prevent such incidents,” Mr. Gachagua said on social media.

Concerned parents at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County on September 6, 2024.

The Head of Basic Education, Belio Kipsang, visited the school on Friday morning.

Dr. Kipsang disclosed that the school had a total of 824 students, of which 402 were boys and 422 were girls. Of the total students enrolled, 156 boys and 160 girls were boarders while the rest were day students. All 156 boarders were housed in the ill-fated dormitory.

Destroyed property at a dormitory of Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County, where 17 children died in an overnight fire on September 6, 2024.

“The Ministry of Education is currently working with the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Administration and the Ministry of Health to manage the situation and ensure that the injured students receive the best possible medical attention. In accordance with the directive of His Excellency President William Ruto, the Ministry of Education is coordinating investigations with security agencies to investigate the root cause of the fire incident at the school.

“The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Julius Migos Ogamba, who was on an official trip in China, is on his way back to join our local teams to ensure that the situation is addressed with the utmost urgency. In the meantime, I am on the ground leading the local inter-agency team to manage the situation. The Ministry of Education sends its sincere and heartfelt condolences to the parents, families and friends of the students who lost their lives in this unfortunate tragedy,” Dr. Kipsang said in a statement.

The Nation has established that the structure of the dormitory was semi-permanent, with the walls in the lower part built of stones but mainly of wood.