At least 17 students perished after a dormitory at a boarding school in central Kenya caught fire on Thursday night, according to police.
More than a dozen people have been rushed to the hospital with severe bu*rns, raising fears that the death toll may grow.
The reason of the fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy, a primary school in Nyeri County, is now unknown. President William Ruto described the fire as “horrific” and “devastating” and has requested an investigation.
“Those responsible will be held to account,” Mr Ruto wrote on social media.
According to authorities, an investigation team has been assigned to the school.
More than 150 students were inside the dormitory when it caught fire at midnight local time, according to police commander Pius Murugu.
According to a journalist from Citizen TV, the fire spread quickly because the majority of the school’s structures were made of timber.
According to police spokesperson Resila Onyango, the bodies retrieved were “burnt beyond recognition”.
“More bodies are likely to be recovered once (the) scene is fully processed,” she added.
The Kenya Red Cross said it was providing trauma counselling services to the pupils, teachers and affected families, and had set up a tracing desk at the school.
Hillside Endarasha Academy is a private primary school, with more than 800 pupils mostly between five and 12 years old, located near Nyeri town – 150km (93 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi.
School fires are relatively common in Kenyan boarding schools.
In 2017, 10 students died in an arson attack at Moi Girls High School in the capital Nairobi.
At least 67 students di3d in Machakos County, south-east of Nairobi, in the deadliest Kenyan school arson that took place more than 20 years ago.
