At Least 10 Students Killed In Kenya School Dormitory Fire

At least 10 students have been killed and several others injured after a fire tore through a dormitory at Utumishi Girls Academy in the Gilgil area of Nakuru County in central Kenya in the early hours of Thursday morning, with emergency rescue teams still searching the building for students who may be trapped.

Rift Valley Regional Police Commander Samuel Ndanyi confirmed that the fire broke out at around 1:00 a.m. local time, destroying property of unknown value as firefighters and police officers fanned out to control the blaze and evacuate students from the building.

Kenya Red Cross ambulance crews, first responders and psychosocial support teams were deployed to the scene, with many of the injured students rushed to St Joseph’s Hospital for treatment and assessment.

“It is a distressing and saddening situation,” county police official Masoud Mwinyi told distraught parents gathered outside the school, according to local broadcaster Citizen Television.

The cause of the fire had not been established as of Thursday morning, with investigations ongoing.

The tragedy comes amid a worrying rise in school fire incidents across Kenya in recent weeks, with police saying several schools have experienced unrest, strikes and destruction of property, leading some institutions to temporarily close.

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

In 2024, 21 students died in a dormitory fire at a primary school in nearby Nyeri County, prompting President William Ruto to declare three days of national mourning.

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