Families of children on Sep 7 spent agonizing hours waiting to hear about their missing loved ones at a Kenyan primary school, where a devastating dormitory blaze killed 17 students.
The fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy in the central Nyeri County broke out during the intervening night of Sep 5 and 6, engulfing a dormitory where over 150 boys were sleeping.
Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Sep 6 told reporters at the scene of the tragedy that at least 70 students were still missing.
The country observed a three-day national mourning effective Sep 2 as President William Ruto described the incident as an “unfathomable tragedy”.
At least 17 children aged between 9 and 13 had lost their lives, while 14 had sustained injuries and were being treated in hospital.
“I pledge that the difficult questions that have been asked such as how this tragedy occurred and why the response was not timely will be answered fully, frankly, and without fear or favor,” Ruto said in a statement on Sep 5.
“All relevant persons and bodies will be held to account, and we shall do all that is required to ensure that, as far as possible, we shall never again find ourselves in the grips of such a tragedy,” he added.
The school, which caters to some 800 children, is located in a semi-rural area around 170 kilometers (100 miles) north of the Nairobi capital.
Gachagua told reporters on Sep 6 that there were still 70 children unaccounted for, which did not mean they were dead or injured.
“They may have been taken by relatives or found shelter in the community,” he said.
He described the scene as “gory” and said painstaking investigation using DNA would be required to help identify the victims.
“The bodies recovered at the scene were burnt beyond recognition,” AFP quoted national police spokesperson Resila Onyango as saying.
Tensions ran high on Sep 6 among the families gathered at the school as they anxiously waited to hear about the missing children.
Many broke down after officials took them to see the charred bodies in the destroyed dorm.
“Please look for my kid. He can’t be dead. I want my child,” one woman cried in distress as she left the school.
Inferno cause still not known
The cause of the inferno was not yet known but Kenya’s National Gender and Equality Commission said initial reports indicated the dorm was “overcrowded, in violation of safety standards”. He called for an immediate inquiry.
The Kenyan Red Cross said it was on the ground assisting a multi-agency response team and providing psychosocial support.
Footage released by AFP showed the blackened shell of the largely wooden-built dormitory, with its corrugated iron roof completely collapsed.
The destroyed building was sealed off by yellow police tape, with officers stationed at all access points.
School fires in Kenya & across East Africa
There have been some devastating school fires in Kenya & across East Africa in past years. At least Nine students were killed by a fire at a girls’ high school in the sprawling slum neighborhood of Kibera in Nairobi In 2016.
At least 67 pupils were killed in an arson attack on their dormitory at a secondary school in Kenya’s southern Machakos district in 2001.
At least 40 school children were burned alive and 47 injured in a fire that tore through a girls’ school in Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro region in 1994.
A blaze ravaged a school for the blind in eastern Uganda. At least 11 students were charred to death after they were trapped inside their shared bedroom because the building had been burglar-proofed in 2022.
