Nine students arrested over an arson attack that killed 16 girls at a school in Kenya appeared in court on Tuesday. The High Court in Naivasha, 90 kilometers west of Nairobi, will rule on Wednesday on whether the girls can be detained for a month pending investigations, as investigators requested more time to probe the deadly fire.
The fire on May 28 ripped through the Utumishi Girls School dormitory, which housed 202 students. The school matron failed to open an emergency door, forcing all students to scramble through a single exit, investigators have said. Authorities previously stated that school administrators would face disciplinary action for safety violations, and that two teachers were aware of students planning something but failed to act.
The accused girls are alleged to have planned and carried out the arson. They have been in police custody for five days, during which interrogations revealed the fire was started by lighting a mattress at the dormitory’s exit using a matchstick and paraffin. No motive has been disclosed so far.
Results of DNA tests to identify bodies charred beyond recognition are expected on Wednesday. CCTV footage from the razed dormitory showed six students starting the fire moments before students woke and rushed to escape, leaving 79 wounded.
Since the incident, five more school fires have occurred across the country, and the Kenya Red Cross has responded to 37 school fires this year, though none have caused casualties. School fires are common in Kenya, where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded and firefighting equipment scarce. The deadliest occurred in 2001, killing 67 students in Machakos County, and the most recent fatal incident was in 2024, when 21 children died in Nyeri County. There have also been cases of students burning schools due to disciplinary issues.
