GILGIL, Kenya, May 29 — A fire tore through a dormitory at a girls’ secondary school in Kenya’s Rift Valley overnight, killing at least 16 students, the government said yesterday.
The fire broke out shortly after midnight at Utumishi Girls’ Academy Senior School in Gilgil, west-central Kenya, and burned for more than two hours, Education Minister Julius Migos told reporters.
He said 79 other students were injured, although 71 of them had already been discharged from hospital. Students at the school are aged between 15 and 18.
“Investigations are ongoing, but the cause of the fire has not yet been identified,” Migos said.
‘Student set mattress on fire’
Speaking to reporters at the school, Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen urged the public not to speculate on the cause of the fire.
However, multiple survivors told first responders that a student had set a mattress alight with a match, according to one first responder who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The responder said they did not know the student’s motive.
Fires are common at Kenyan schools, with more than 100 recorded in 2024, according to the government. Researchers have found that many fires were started by students protesting against harsh discipline and poor living conditions.
Students trapped upstairs
Doors on the second floor, where the fire started, were initially locked and some students died after jumping from windows, the first responder said. The blaze shattered window panes and left the school walls stained with smoke.
Outside the school yesterday, hundreds of family members gathered seeking news of their loved ones. Injured students were seen, some limping with bandaged limbs while others were carried by police officers.
Local resident Wambui Nderitu said she rushed to the school at about 4 am to look for her aunt’s daughter.
“Fortunately, I found her child, but she was slightly injured. She told me she was on a lower dormitory, which is how she managed to get out,” Nderitu told local broadcaster Asulab TV. “Many of those who were upstairs jumped from the balcony.”
Another local resident, Leah Wanjiru, told Asulab TV: “I heard children screaming, so I went outside to check and saw that the school was on fire.
“We started fetching water, trying to help put out the fire and rescue people.”
A fire at a primary boarding school in nearby Nyeri County in 2024 killed 21 students. The cause was never conclusively established.
In one of the worst school fires in recent history, 67 schoolboys were killed in 2001 at Kyanguli Secondary School outside Nairobi, in an incident authorities attributed to arson.
