Tragic Fire at Kenyan Girls' School Results in Fatalities and Injuries

A deadly blaze erupted early Thursday morning at Utumishi Girls School in central Kenya, tragically resulting in several deaths and injuries. Rescue crews and police were actively searching for all the students, as teams reported from the site about 120 kilometres from Nairobi.

Preliminary assessments suggest at least 15 people lost their lives while others were transported to nearby hospitals. The inferno started in the dormitory area of the boarding school, though the exact cause remains undetermined. Incidences like these have plagued Kenyan schools before, stemming from reasons such as arson or electrical faults.

Kenyan history records devastating school fires, with a notable one in 2001 claiming 67 lives. More recently, in 2024, a central Kenya school fire led to the loss of 21 students, prompting a national mourning period declared by the president. In another incident in 2017, a student's murder charge followed a school fire that caused 10 deaths in Nairobi.

(With inputs from agencies.)