A fire has ripped through a dormitory at a girls' school in Kenya's Rift Valley, killing at least 16 students. The blaze broke out just after midnight at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil, Nakuru County, approximately 76 miles north-west of Nairobi, police said.
Education Minister Julius Migos Ogamba told reporters that 79 other students were injured, although 71 have already been discharged from hospital. He said investigations were ongoing but the cause of the fire had not yet been identified. Students at the school are aged between 15 and 18, and about 220 girls were sleeping in the dormitory when the fire started on the building's second floor. Doors on that floor were initially locked, and some girls died while jumping out of windows, according to a first responder.
Multiple survivors told first responders that a student had lit a mattress with a match, the first responder told Reuters. They did not know what the student's motive may have been. The Kenyan Red Cross said the blaze was reported at about 3:30am on Thursday, and that several students had been evacuated and were receiving treatment in various hospitals.
The tragedy is the latest fatal fire at a school in Kenya in recent years. In 2024, 21 boys were killed at a boarding school in central Kenya, while in 2017 nine girls died in a blaze at a school in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum. In 2016, there were about 120 incidents of students setting fire to their sleeping quarters, many in protest at strict discipline and poor conditions. A 2022 report by the country's auditor general found that most state secondary schools were not prepared to deal with fires.
Dozens of parents gathered at the school on Thursday morning, frantically searching for news of their children. Some injured students were carried out by police officers, while others limped. Wambui Nderitu told the BBC that her niece had survived the fire but broken her leg, adding: "Some of those on the top floor had to jump out, that's why they are injured."
Kenya's President William Ruto said his "heart and prayers" were with the girls' families, and that no words could truly ease the pain of losing young lives filled with promise. He said immediate attention was focused on rescue, treatment of the injured, and support for families, while investigations continue.
