Kenya primary school fire: 3 days of mourning declared

A school dormitory turned into a tragic scene.

Late Thursday night (Sep. 5), a fire broke out in a building in central Kenya, killing at least 18 students.

On Friday (Sep. 6), worried parents gathered at Hillside Endarasha Primary School, anxiously waiting for news about their children.

While 37 students were safely reunited with their families, 70 others were still missing.

Vice President Rigathi Gachagua asked local residents who might have taken in some children to help find them.

The cause of the fire at the dormitory in Nyeri County is still under investigation. The dorm housed over 150 boys, aged between 10 and 14. Due to the building being mostly made of wooden planks, the fire spread very quickly.

Kenya’s worst school fire in recent history was in 2001, when 67 students lost their lives.

The education ministry’s safety rules for dormitories suggest that they should be spacious, have two doors at each end, an emergency exit in the middle, and windows without grills to allow for quick escape during a fire. There should also be fire extinguishers and alarms in easy-to-reach places.

It is not yet clear if these safety rules were followed at Hillside School, and the area around the dormitory remains closed off.

President William Ruto announced three days of mourning starting Monday (Sep. 11), with flags flown at half-mast to honor the students who died.