Police in Kenya have been ordered to investigate the circumstances that led to a deadly fire at a boarding school, killing at least 18 students, aged an average of nine.
Investigators must “assess whether the tragedy was the result of negligence and/or recklessness,” the chief prosecutor said in a statement.
The cause of the fire at the boys’ dormitory of Hillside Endarasha Academy is still unknown. 50 students are still missing.
The identification of the bodies is expected to take place on Monday.
According to the director of the Public Prosecution Service, Renson Ingonga, the tragedy brings back “bad memories of other similar school fires”, which often pointed to negligence and failure to comply with safety standards.
Anyone found guilty will be swiftly put through the normal criminal process, he added. in a statement about X.
Kenya National Commission for Gender and Equality said in a statement that initial reports that the dormitory was overcrowded were “very disturbing.”
The fire broke out in the dormitory housing 156 boys in the remote area of Nyeri County around 11pm local time on Thursday. Firefighters were slowed by poor roads but people living nearby rushed to rescue the boys.
“It is a catastrophe beyond our imagination,” government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said at the school on Saturday. “It is truly devastating for the nation to lose such a large number of young and promising Kenyans. Our hearts are heavy.”
About 50 children are still missing, some of whom are believed to have fled to the local community or were picked up by their parents without the school’s knowledge.
Mr Mwaura said on Saturday that more than 20 children had now been reported missing, after 70 were initially reported missing on Friday. He urged media not to “jump to conclusions about the numbers” as DNA testing would take days.
On Saturday, investigators and government pathologists sealed off the site for analysis, and the bodies would not be identified until Monday at a hospital, another official told reporters.
“Some bodies were burned beyond repair,” the official said.
That means parents desperate for news may have to wait another two days before they know what happened to their children.
President William Ruto has declared a three-day period of national mourning starting on Monday.
School fires in Kenya are relatively common as concerns have been raised about safety standards.
In 2022, a dormitory in western Kenya burned down. Several students were later arrested on suspicion of arson.
In 2017, 10 students were killed in an arson attack at Moi Girls High School in the capital Nairobi.
At least 67 students were killed in Machakos County, southeast of Nairobi, in Kenya’s deadliest school arson attack in more than 20 years.
A report released four years ago warned that many secondary schools in Kenya were ill-prepared for fires and were not adhering to government safety standards.
The report by the country’s audit office found that many schools lacked adequate equipment to fight fires and were not built to required safety standards.
