Kenya – Fire Kills 17 Pupils At Hillside Endarasha Academy In Nyeri County,Kenya

By Lisbeth Micheni, Kenya

17 pupils have been confirmed dead following a fire outbreak in one of the dormitories at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni West, Nyeri County, Kenya.

The deceased students were burnt beyond recognition in the Thursday night fire incident.

Confirming the tragedy, the National Police Service Spokesperson, Dr Resilia Onyango said 14 other pupils with serious burns have been rushed to hospital.

The cause of the inferno is yet to be known, but homicide investigators and forensic experts are at the school, where media access has been blocked.

Meanwhile, a team of police officers led by Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations Department, John Onyango and Director of Homicide Martin Nyuguto has been deployed to the school to commence investigations into the incident.

According to the Chief government pathologist, Johansen Oduor, postmortems will begin on Tuesday.

However, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Renson Ingonga, has instructed police to conduct a comprehensive investigation to determine the circumstances that led to the fire and “assess whether or not the tragedy may have resulted from negligence or recklessness of any responsibility holders,” his office said in a statement.

“Any person found responsible towards the fire tragedy shall be expediently taken through the due process of a criminal trial.”