Sixteen students were killed and dozens injured in an overnight dormitory fire at a girls’ boarding school in Gilgil, Kenya.
Sixteen students were killed when a fire swept through a dormitory at a girls’ boarding school in Gilgil, Kenya, in the early hours of Thursday, authorities said.
Dozens of other students were injured at Utumishi Girls Academy, about 120 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, as emergency teams, police and anxious families gathered at the school. Education Minister Julius Ogamba said the cause of the fire had not been established and that investigations were continuing.
Officials gave slightly different public accounts of the injury toll. Several reports citing Ogamba said 79 students were injured, while the minister was also quoted at the scene as saying 71 students had been discharged from hospital and seven remained admitted for further treatment.
The fire began while students were asleep and broke out on the first floor of one of the dormitories, which Ogamba said was completely destroyed. Police said the dormitory block housed about 220 students, and more than 800 children were at the school at the time.
Response teams had put out the fire by about 3 a.m., Ogamba said, but “by then the damage had already been done.” Officials said the school would begin releasing students to parents and guardians as authorities accounted for children and continued the investigation.
Police commander Masoud Mwinyi said officers were searching nearby areas for students who may have fled in panic during the night. Al Jazeera reported that Mwinyi said 50 officers were involved in combing the area around the school.
Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen, who visited the school, offered condolences to bereaved families and urged the public not to speculate while investigators worked. “It’s a very anxious moment,” he said, asking Kenyans to stand with the affected families “in prayer, in support.”
Parents and relatives waited outside the school for news, with some searching hospitals in the area. Wambui Nderitu, whose cousin survived with a broken leg, said some students were injured after jumping from an upper floor while trying to escape.
The school is a government-owned secondary school managed and sponsored by the Kenya Police Service, and many of its students are daughters of police officers, according to CBC and CBS.
Kenya has faced repeated deadly school fires, particularly in boarding institutions. Some have been linked to arson and others to electrical faults, while overcrowded dormitories, blocked exits and other safety lapses have often been cited after past incidents.
The country’s deadliest recent school fire was in 2001, when 67 students died in a dormitory blaze in Machakos County. In 2024, 21 students died in a school fire in central Kenya, and in 2017, 10 students died in a school fire in Nairobi.
Authorities have not said when they expect to determine the cause of the Gilgil fire. The immediate focus remained on identifying the dead, treating the injured and accounting for students who scattered during the emergency.
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