17 pupils have been burned to death, and 14 others have been left with severe injuries after a fire gutted a primary school dormitory in Central Kenya.
This incident occurred during the early hours of September 6, 2024, at Hillside Endarasha Academy, a primary school located in Kien, Nyeri County, which is approximately 170 kilometers north of Nairobi. The school has an enrollment of 800 pupils aged 5–12.
According to preliminary reports, the fire gutted the dormitory as the children were still sleeping, but the cause of the fire is still not yet known.
During an interview with journalists on September 6, 2024, the National Police Service spokesperson, Resila Onyango, confirmed the incident and revealed that 14 pupils died in the fire because they were burned beyond recognition, while the 17th pupil died while being rushed to the hospital.
Onyango added that the victims affected by this fire were around the age of 9 years, and there are fears that the death toll may rise due to the severity of the burn wounds that the pupils had.
’’Police are going to investigate what caused the fire; however, I am grateful to the Kenya Red Cross for working together with the police to take the injured and survivors of the fire to Nyeri Provincial General Hospital for first aid and better treatment,’’ Onyango disclosed.
Onyango added that more bodies are likely to be recovered at the scene once investigations fully start; however, the Kenya Red Cross has deployed its team to offer psychosocial support services to pupils, teachers, and affected families.
This incident is not the first because school fires are common in Kenyan boarding schools and are linked to arson. For example, in September 2017, a tragic fire broke out at Moi Girls High School in Nairobi, Kenya, claiming the lives of 10 students, and in 2018, 58 schoolboys were killed in a dormitory fire at Kyanguli Secondary School outside Nairobi.
