Written by: Mohammed Omran
In a tragic scene that shakes Kenya Sixteen students were killed and 79 others were injured in a massive fire that broke out inside a girls' boarding school during the night, amid panic and grief, while investigations are still underway to uncover the causes of the mysterious fire.
A nighttime fire engulfs a student dormitory, leaving dozens of victims.
A fire broke out overnight in a girls' dormitory at a school in a town in Kenya's Rift Valley, killing 16 students, the government said Thursday.
Fire at Otomishi Girls' Academy
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Education Minister Julius Migos stated that the fire broke out shortly after midnight at the Otomishi Girls' Secondary School in Gilgil, in west-central Kenya, and lasted for more than two hours. He indicated that the cause has not yet been determined and an investigation is underway to ascertain its causes.
Education Minister Julius Migos said another 79 students were infected, although 71 of them had already been discharged from the hospital.
Footage broadcast by Kenyan television showed shattered windows and smoke-stained walls, while family members gathered outside the school gates looking for news of their missing loved ones.
Fires are common in Kenyan schools, with more than 100 fires recorded in 2024, according to the government.
Researchers have found that many of these fires are started by students protesting the harshness of the school system and poor conditions.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
Migos said investigations are ongoing, but the cause of the fire at the Otomishi Girls' Academy has not yet been determined.
A fire in 2024 at a primary boarding school in neighboring Nyeri County killed 21 students. The cause of the fire was never definitively determined.
”The fire started in an upper dome and spread throughout the building during that time,” Eunice Morethi, whose daughter survived the fire, told television station NTV, pointing to part of the school’s structure.
Part of the dome was closed off on one side and on the other side, and the students were unable to get out, but many of them managed to escape.
In the worst school fire in modern times, 67 students died in 2001 at Kyangole Secondary School outside Nairobi, an incident attributed to
