A fire has ravaged a dormitory of a girls’ school in the Kenyan city of Gilgil, 120 kilometers from the capital, Nairobi, during the night and has caused the death of 16 students, according to the country’s government this Thursday. The fire, whose cause has not yet been established, broke out shortly after midnight at the Utumishi Girls’ Academy Secondary School, a boarding school for girls in the Rift Valley region. The incident lasted for more than two hours, according to statements to the press by the Minister of Education, Julius Migos.
The minister indicated that another 79 students were injured, although 71 had already been discharged from the hospital. “Investigations continue, but the cause of the fire has not yet been determined,” Migos said.
“The fire started in an upper part of the building and spread quickly,” recounted Eunice Mureithi, mother of a student who managed to escape, to the NTV network. “One part of the building was blocked and the students could not exit on one side, but many managed to escape through other points,” she added.
Images broadcast by Kenyan television showed broken windows and smoke-covered walls, while relatives gathered at the school gates seeking news of their missing loved ones.
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Fires are common in schools in Kenya. In 2024, more than 100 cases were recorded, according to the government. Researchers pointed out that many of them are caused by students protesting against very harsh disciplinary rules and poor conditions.
In 2024, a fire at a primary school in Nyeri County caused the death of 21 students, without a definitive conclusion about its origin.
The worst recent school fire in the country occurred in 2001 at Kyanguli Secondary School, near Nairobi, where 67 students died, in a case attributed to arson.
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