At least 17 children died in a fire at a school dormitory in Kenya

2024-09-06 14:11:44

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At least 17 children died in the fire destroyed a school dormitory in central Kenya, police reported Friday.

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Police spokesperson Resila Onyango said “17 people have died in this incident and other people have to be taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Fire broke out of them Hillside Edarasha Academy Nyeri County around midnightand it spread around the room where they were sleeping more than 150 children, speakers included.

“The bodies found at the scene were burned to such an extent that they were unrecognizable,” he said.

Many people were injured, 16 of them seriously, and were taken to a nearby hospital, he continued. “Other bodies will probably be found,” he calculated.

An investigation is open, but the cause of the accident is currently unknown.

Kenya’s Gender and Equality Commission said however that initial reports indicated that the accommodation was available “filled, which is against security regulations.”

Primary school served by 800 students between the ages of five and 12. The police pointed to that The average age of the deceased was nine years.

Kenyan President William Ruto expressed his condolences.

“Our thoughts are with the families of the children who lost their lives in the fire accident,” he wrote on the social network X. “It’s terrible news,” he added.

Ruto said he had ordered that “this horrific incident” be fully investigated and promised that those responsible “will be held accountable”.

There is the school about 170 km north of Nairobi, the capital of an African country.

The Kenya Red Cross said it was on the ground to assist the response team within the agency.

The organization says in X that it is “Providing psychosocial support services to affected students, teachers and families.”

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About 100 parents gathered outside the school, according to an AFP reporter, waiting to hear news about their children.

Both Kenya and other East African countries have suffered several school fires in recent years.

In 2016, for example, nine students died in an accident at a girls’ high school in the Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi.