At least 17 children died Last night, 14 people were injured in a fire that broke out in a dormitory of a primary school in central Kenya, police in the African country reported on Friday.
A fire has gutted the Hillside Endarasha Academy boarding school in Kieni, Nyeri County. “We have 17 students dead and 14 injured. We are investigating the cause and take the necessary measures“, confirmed the spokesperson of the National Police, Resila Onyango, according to local media.
Similarly, Onyango detailed in statements made to Nation FM radio that “16 children are burnt beyond recognition, while another died on the way to the hospital,” Onyango said. “There was a fire at the residence. It happened at night and we have not yet determined the causes.“, stressed the MP, who said he could not yet confirm whether firefighters had managed to contain the flames in the centre, located north of the capital, Nairobi.
Faced with this tragedy, about which no further information is known at the moment, the country’s president, William Samoei Ruto, described the “devastating” newswhile assuring that “those responsible will answer” for the “horrible incident.” In this sense, he explained that “the Government, through the Ministry of the Interior and Coordination of the National Government, is mobilizing all the necessary resources to support the affected families.”
Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga also spoke out about what happened: “My deepest condolences to the families, friends and school fraternities who have lost loved ones in the tragedy of the devastating fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy. May God grant strength to all in these difficult times and a speedy recovery to the injured,” he wrote on his profile on the social network X.
