Three students have been reported injured from a fire outbreak at a girls' boarding school in the Isiolo region of central Kenya on Saturday, as Reported by the Red Cross and police.
This incident comes two days after the death of 21 students in a boarding primary school, Hillside Endarasha Academy, in Nyeri, central Kenya at around 23:00 (20:00 GMT) on Friday.
The Kenya Red Cross in a post on X on Saturday said "A fire incident has been reported at Isiolo Girls High School, Isiolo County". It was later reported in the early hours of Sunday that three children had sustained minor injuries and were receiving psychological first aid.
Resila Onyango, a Kenyan police spokesperson said the fire started around 8 pm (17:00 GMT) and had already destroyed dormitories at Isiolo Girls High School before it was put under control.
Though the cause of the fire is still unknown, the increasing number of fire outbreaks in boarding schools in Kenya in recent times is a national safety concern.
According to a Reuters news agency report, after the fire was completely put out, police, fire, and rescue squads were seen searching for any students and property they could salvage from the wreckage caused by the fire.
Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday offered his condolences to the family of the victims of the inferno on Thursday describing the incident as “devastating news.”
In a post on X Ruto said “our thoughts are with the families of the children who have lost their lives in the fire tragedy at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County.”
DNA testing will begin this Monday for proper identification of the bodies of children who died in the fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy on Thursday night.
According to officials, 17 children remain unaccounted for, while parents’ demands for answers increase every day.
President William Ruto has declared three days of mourning in Kenya, starting on Monday, for the victims of the fire incident.
The chief prosecutor said in a statement “Investigators should assess whether or not the tragedy may have resulted from negligence and/or recklessness".
The Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga said the tragedy "evokes bad memories of other similar school fire incidents" pointing to failure to comply with the given safety standards.
School fires – often attributed to arson and overcrowding – are relatively common in Kenya, where similar tragedies have led to multiple casualties in the past.
Arson and overcrowding are considered the top factors contributing to the increasing incident of school fires in Kenya leading to multiple casualties.
In 2016, Kenyan authorities recorded a total of 130 cases of school burnings related to student unrest.
According to official figures reported by Reuters at least nine students died in 2017, when a boarding school in the capital Nairobi was gutted by fire. The government said at the time that the fire “was not an accident” but an “arson,” and part of a rising trend of deliberate school fires. 350 schools had been gutted by fire from 2015 to 2016.
In 2018 at least 63 arson cases were reported, according to parliamentary records.
Wrapping Up
The recent fire at a Kenyan girls' boarding school, following an earlier inferno that tragically claimed 21 lives, underscores the urgent need for improved safety measures. Authorities must conduct thorough investigations, enhance fire prevention strategies, and prioritize student safety to prevent such devastating incidents from happening again.