Gilgil, Kenya. A fire tore through a dormitory at a girls’ secondary school in Kenya’s Rift Valley overnight, killing 16 students, the government said on Thursday. Officials said 79 other students were injured, while investigations into the cause of the fire were continuing.
Fire at Utumishi Girls’ Academy
The fire broke out just after midnight at the Utumishi Girls’ Academy Senior School in Gilgil in west-central Kenya and burned for more than two hours, Education Minister Julius Migos told reporters.
Migos said 71 of the 79 injured students had already been discharged from hospital. Students at the school are aged between 15 and 18 years.
“Ivestigations are ongoing, but the … cause of the fire is not yet identified,” Migos said.
Authorities urge caution
Speaking to reporters at the school, Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen urged people not to speculate on the cause of the fire.
However, multiple survivors told first responders that a student had lit a mattress with a match, said one first responder, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The first responder said they did not know what the student’s motive might have been.
Damage and response
The first responder said doors on the second floor, where the fire started, were initially locked and some students died while jumping out of the windows.
The fire broke windowpanes and left the walls of the school stained with smoke. Hundreds of family members gathered on Thursday morning to seek news of their loved ones, Reuters witnesses at the scene said.
School fires in Kenya
Fires are common at Kenyan schools, with more than 100 recorded in 2024, according to the government. Researchers have found that many fires are set by students protesting harsh discipline and poor conditions.