A devastating fire tore through a dormitory at a girls’ boarding school in central Kenya on Thursday, killing at least 16 students and injuring several more.
Kenya’s Education Minister Julius Ogamba confirmed that 79 students were injured in the blaze at Utumishi Girls School, located in the Gilgil area of central Kenya. The school, which accommodates more than 800 students, is among the prominent educational institutions in the region.
Authorities said the cause of the fire had not yet been determined. Ogamba stated that a thorough investigation would be conducted to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident, including whether the school had complied with mandatory fire safety regulations and emergency procedures.
Police officials said rescue and emergency operations were immediately launched at the school, situated around 120 kilometres from the capital city, Nairobi. Emergency teams worked through the aftermath of the blaze to evacuate students and assist the injured. Utumishi Girls School is a government-owned secondary institution managed and sponsored by the Kenya Police Service. A large number of students studying there are daughters of police personnel.
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Officials said the identities of the victims had not yet been confirmed as authorities continued efforts to account for all students and notify families. One woman at the scene, Wambui Nderitu, who had arrived to check on her cousin studying at the school, described the chaotic situation following the outbreak of the fire. She claimed she had been told that the dormitory matron opened only one of the two exits without properly alerting the students to evacuate.
“The second door reportedly remained closed. My cousin managed to escape with an injury to her leg, but we heard many children were hurt and some lost their lives,” Nderitu said. The Kenya Red Cross said several students had been rescued and shifted to different hospitals for treatment. The organisation added that it had deployed tracing teams and psychosocial support personnel to assist affected students and their families during the crisis.
School fires have repeatedly raised concerns about safety standards in Kenyan educational institutions over the years. One of the deadliest such incidents in Kenya occurred in 2001, when 67 students died in a dormitory fire at a school in Machakos County. More recently, in 2024, another school fire in central Kenya claimed the lives of 21 students, prompting President William Ruto to declare three days of national mourning.
In a separate incident in 2017, 10 students were killed in a dormitory fire at a school in Nairobi, after which a student was charged with murder in connection with the blaze. Thursday’s tragedy has once again sparked questions about fire preparedness, dormitory safety and emergency response measures in schools across Kenya.
