NAIROBI (Reuters) -A fireplace raged by means of the dormitory of a boarding college for younger youngsters in central Kenya within the early hours of Friday, killing 17 boys sleeping there, police mentioned.
Citizen Tv mentioned the fireplace had burnt the victims past recognition. Its footage from the scene confirmed collapsed iron-sheet roofing and charred metallic storage packing containers on prime of double-decker beds within the dormitory.
The blaze occurred on the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri, a main boarding college for younger college students.
“We have lost 17 pupils in the fire incident while 14 are injured,” police spokesperson Resila Onyango mentioned. “Our team is at the scene at the moment.”
Authorities spokesperson Isaac Mwaura mentioned the boys have been in grades 4 to eight, placing their ages at about 9 to 13-years-old. He mentioned in an announcement the dormitory housed 156 college students.
The reason for the fireplace was not instantly clear.
President William Ruto mentioned he had instructed authorities to research what he referred to as the “horrific incident” and mentioned these accountable could be held to account.
Authorities have cordoned off the college, the Kenya Purple Cross mentioned on X. Calls by Reuters to the college’s principal telephone line went unanswered.
Kenya has a historical past of college fires, a lot of which have turned out to be arson.
9 college students have been killed in Sept 2017 in a hearth at a college within the capital Nairobi that the federal government attributed to arson.
In 2001, 58 schoolboys have been killed in a dormitory hearth at Kyanguli Secondary College outdoors Nairobi. In 2012, eight college students have been killed at a college in Homa Bay County in western Kenya.
