Nairobi, KenyaReuters —
Kenyan police announced on Friday that eight students have been arrested on suspicion of arson over a fire that killed 16 students at a girls’ boarding school.
A fire broke out at Utumisi Girls’ Academy High School in Gilgil, central Kenya, early Thursday morning, injuring 79 students.
Fires are common in Kenyan schools, many of them set by students protesting harsh discipline and poor conditions, researchers have found.
“Preliminary investigations have identified eight students as persons of interest in connection with the planning and execution of the suspected arson,” the police’s Criminal Investigations Directorate said in a statement.
“The eight girls were subsequently arrested and are currently in police custody.”
Education Minister Julius Ogunba told a press conference that a preliminary investigation found that two teachers at the secondary school were informed about the students’ alleged plans but took no action to stop it.
He said the school also did not follow safety rules, citing overcrowding in the dormitories and the emergency exits being locked during the fire.
As a result, the government will dissolve the school’s management committee and take appropriate legal and disciplinary action against any staff member found to have neglected their duties, Ogunba said.
In 2024, a fire broke out at a primary school boarding school in central Kenya’s Nyeri County, killing 21 students. The cause was not conclusively established.
The deadliest school fire in recent history, at Kyanguri Secondary School on the outskirts of Nairobi in 2001, killed 67 boys, but authorities attributed the incident to arson.
