16 female students were killed and 79 injured in a fire

The Kenyan government said on Thursday that a fire broke out in a dormitory at a girls’ boarding school in a town in the Rift Valley region overnight, killing at least 16 students.

Education Minister Julius Migos told reporters that the fire broke out shortly after midnight at Otumishi Girls Secondary School in the town of Gilgil in west-central Kenya, and continued for more than two hours. He added that the fire also injured 79 female students, but 71 of them left the hospital after receiving treatment. The students’ ages range between 15 and 18 years.

He added, “Investigations are ongoing, but the cause of the fire is not yet known.”

In statements to reporters at the school, Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen called on citizens not to speculate about the cause of the fire.

But a paramedic, who requested that his name not be published because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that a number of survivors informed his fellow paramedics that a female student had set fire to the bed with a match.

Fires are common in Kenyan schools, with government statistics showing more than 100 fires recorded in 2024. Researchers concluded that many of these fires are set by students in protest against strict rules and poor conditions.

Rescuers said that the doors of the second floor, where the fire broke out, were initially locked, and that some of the female students died when they tried to jump from the windows.
Hundreds of families gathered outside the school today to check on the girls.

Wambui Nderito, a resident of the area, said she rushed to school at around 4 a.m. local time to look for the daughter of one of her relatives.

Nderitu told a local TV channel, “Fortunately, I found her daughter, but she was slightly injured. She told me that she was in the lower student dormitory, and this is what enabled her to get out. Many of those who were on the upper floor jumped from the balcony.”

Leah Wanjiru, a resident of the area, told the same channel, “I heard the children screaming… so I went out to check on the matter, and found the school burning… We started bringing water, trying to put out the fire and save the students.”