At least 17 pupils killed in Kenya school fire

At least 17 pupils have died after a school in central Kenya caught fire on Thursday night, police say.

The cause of the fire at Hillside Endarasha Primary in Nyeri county is not yet known, and an investigation has been launched.

There are fears the death toll could rise as more than a dozen others have been taken to hospital with severe burns.

“There are 17 fatalities from this incident and there are also others who were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

“The bodies recovered at the scene were burnt beyond recognition,” national police spokesperson Resila Onyango said.

Police said the average age of the victims was around nine years old.

Several others were injured, Onyango said, 16 of them seriously, and had been rushed to a nearby hospital.

“More bodies are likely to be recovered once (the) scene is fully processed,” she said.

The cause of the fire remains unknown, she said, but an investigation had been launched.

President William Ruto expressed his condolences for those killed.

He said in a post on X, “Our thoughts are with the families of the children who have lost their lives in the fire tragedy.

“We pray for speedy recovery to the survivors,” he says on social media.

“I instruct relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible will be held to account.

“The government under the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of the National Government is mobilising all the necessary resources to support the affected families.”

The school is located around 170 kilometres (100 miles) north of the capital Nairobi, in Nyeri county.

The Kenyan Red Cross said it was on the ground assisting a multi-agency response team.

In a post on X, it said it was “providing psychosocial support services to the pupils, teachers and affected families”.

There have been numerous school fires in Kenya and across East Africa.

In 2016, nine students were killed by a fire at a girls’ high school in the Kibera neighbourhood of Nairobi.

In 2001, 67 pupils were killed by an arson attack on their dormitory at the Kyanguli Mixed Secondary School David Mutiso in Kenya’s southern Machakos district.

Two pupils were charged with the murder, and the headmaster and deputy of the school were convicted of negligence.

In 1994, 40 school children were burned alive and 47 injured in a fire that ravaged the Shauritanga Secondary School for Girls in the northern region of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

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