A fire at a primary boarding school in central Kenya has killed 17 students, according to a police spokeswoman said on Friday.
President William Ruto had said that he had asked authorities to investigate and hold those responsible accountable.
More rescuers have been dispatched on their way to the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri, according to the spokeswoman, Resila Onyango, who made the statement in a broadcast on Kenya’s Hot 96 FM radio.
“We have lost 17 pupils in the fire incident and 14 pupils were also injured,” Onyango further revealed, saying “Our team is at the scene at the scene at the moment.”
Meanwhile Ruto had posted on X, “I instruct relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible will be held to account.”
The Kenya Red Cross posted on X that authorities have sealed off the school.
In recent years, there have been a series of school fires in the country, many of which have turned out to be arson.
In September 2017, nine students were killed in a fire at a school in the capital city, Nairobi, that the government attributed to arson.
Similarly in 2001, 58 schoolboys were killed in a dormitory fire at Kyanguli Secondary School outside Nairobi. In 2012, eight students were also killed at a school in Homa Bay County in western Kenya.
