By Francesca Hangeior.
At least 17 children died after a fire ripped through their primary school dormitory overnight in central Kenya, police said Friday.
The blaze in Nyeri county’s Hillside Endarasha Academy broke out at around midnight, police said, engulfing rooms where the children were sleeping.
The primary school caters to some 800 pupils, aged between roughly five and 12.
“There are 17 fatalities from this incident and there are also others who were taken to hospital with serious injuries,” national police spokesperson Resila Onyango told journalists.
“The bodies recovered at the scene were burnt beyond recognition,” she said.
Police said the average age of the victims was around nine years old.
Several others were injured, Onyango said, 16 of them seriously, and had been rushed to a nearby hospital.
“More bodies are likely to be recovered once (the) scene is fully processed,” she said.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, she said, but an investigation had been launched.
President William Ruto expressed his condolences.
“Our thoughts are with the families of the children who have lost their lives in the fire tragedy,” he said in a post on X.
“This is devastating news.”
He said he had instructed officials to “thoroughly investigate this horrific incident”, and promised that those responsible will be “held to account”.
The school is located around 170 kilometres (100 miles) north of the capital Nairobi, in Nyeri county.
Local media showed relatives gathering outside the school building, anxiously waiting in the early morning mist for updates on their children.
Kenya’s Citizen TV showed images of what appeared to be the aftermath of the blaze, with blackened corrugated iron roofing that had collapsed in on itself.
The Kenyan Red Cross said it was on the ground assisting a multi-agency response team.
In a post on X, it said it was “providing psychosocial support services to the pupils, teachers and affected families”.
“Heartbreaking news from Kenya as a school fire has caused devastation. Our thoughts are with all affected,” said Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.