Fire at girls' school in Kenya kills at least 16 students, injures scores more, government official says

Gilgil, Kenya — At least 16 students died in an overnight fire that started in the dormitories of a girls' boarding school, a Kenya government official said, in the latest such incident to rock the East African nation.

Education Minister Julius Ogamba said Thursday that 79 others were injured at the Utumishi Girls School, which has more than 800 students in the Gilgil area of central Kenya.

The cause hasn't yet been determined. Ogamba said authorities would investigate whether the school's fire safety manual had been adhered to.

Police said they were leading rescue and emergency response efforts some 74 miles from the capital, Nairobi.

Frantic parents were being held outside the school buildings by authorities, according to local media cited by French news agency AFP.

The government-owned secondary school is managed and sponsored by the Kenya Police Service. Many of the students are daughters of police officers.

One person at the scene, Wambui Nderitu, said the matron opened one of two dormitory doors "without alerting the children to exit."

"The second door remained closed, and even though my cousin escaped with a leg injury, we've been told many children are injured and some died," Nderitu said. 

School fires are common in Kenyan boarding schools, with some caused by arson and others by electrical faults.

Kenya's deadliest recent school fire occurred in 2001 when 67 students died in a dormitory fire in Machakos County.

In 2024, 21 students burned to death in a school fire in central Kenya. President William Ruto declared three days of mourning.

In 2017, 10 students died in a school fire in the capital Nairobi. A student was charged with murder.