Death toll in Kenya school fire rises to 18, with 70 children missing

At least 18 young children have died and 27 others have been hospitalised after a fire ripped through the dormitory at their primary school in central Kenya overnight on Thursday.

Late on Friday, the death toll went up after one student died of their injuries at the hospital.

Police said the blaze at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county broke out just after midnight on Friday, engulfing the dormitory where more than 150 boys between the ages of 10 and 14 were sleeping.

Since most of the school’s buildings are made using wooden planks, the fire spread very fast.

With at least 70 children unaccounted for, local authorities expect the death toll to rise, although some of them might have gone home with families for the night.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has urged community members who may have sheltered some of the children to bring them back so that they can be accounted for.

The school, which has 824 students, is located in the country’s central highlands, 200 kilometres north of the capital, Nairobi.

Many families have been left waiting anxiously to be reunited with their children, with one parent saying they had been given very little information.

The government has promised to mobilise all available resources to support the families of those involved.

Police spokesperson, Resila Onyango, said they have opened investigations into the cause of the fire.

President William Ruto has declared three days of mourning during which flags will be flown at half-staff in honour of the children who died.

“I instruct relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible will be held to account,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

Gachagua urged school administrators to ensure that safety guidelines recommended by the education ministry for boarding schools were being followed.

School fires are common in Kenyan boarding schools, often due to arson fuelled by drug abuse and overcrowding, according to a recent education ministry report.

Many students stay at school because their parents believe it gives them more time to study without long commutes.

The deadliest school fire was in 2001 when 67 students died in a dormitory fire in Machakos County.