Nine students in court over Kenya school fire

A court in central Kenya on Tuesday heard the case of nine female students accused of setting a fire that killed 16 of their schoolmates last week.

The blaze at Utumishi Girls Academy in Naivasha broke out on May 28 in a dormitory that held 202 students. Investigators said the school matron did not open an emergency exit, leaving only one door for the girls to escape.

The suspects have been in police custody for five days. According to investigators, the fire was started by lighting a mattress at the dormitory exit with a matchstick and paraffin. The motive remains unknown.

The High Court in Naivasha will decide on Wednesday whether to allow the girls to be held for up to a month while investigations continue.

DNA tests are expected on Wednesday to identify bodies that were burned beyond visual recognition. CCTV footage showed six students igniting the fire just before other students woke up. Seventy-nine students were injured.

Since the fire, five more school fires have been reported across Kenya. The Kenya Red Cross has responded to 37 school fires since January. No other fire has resulted in deaths.

School fires are frequent in Kenya, where dormitories are often overcrowded, and firefighting equipment is scarce. The deadliest such incident was in 2001, when 67 students perished in Machakos County. The most recent fatal fire before this one was in 2024, when 21 children died in Nyeri County.

SOURCE: Reuters