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The May 28 fire tore through a dormitory housing 202 students at
the Utumishi Girls School in central Kenya, and students were
forced to flee through a single doorway when the school matron
failed to open an emergency exit.
Police later arrested nine suspects, and said they started the
fire by setting a mattress ablaze near an exit.
The suspects, who are being held in custody for a 21-day period
of investigation, will be formally charged in court, Kenya’s
Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said.
The office also expressed concern over what it said was an
increase in fires reported at schools across the country, and
said those liable would be held responsible.
In early June, the Kenya Red Cross reported that it had
responded to 37 school fire incidents since the beginning of the
year.
Last month, Kenya’s Education Ministry suspended the principal
of Utumishi Girls School for failing to comply with school fire
safety regulations.
The ministry also said that it had closed more than 300 schools
following a 2024 fire tragedy that killed 21 boys in central
Kenya.
Fires as schools are a major concern in Kenya because classrooms
and dormitories are often crowded, and there’s usually no
firefighting equipment in place. Officials sometimes cite poor
electrical connections as the cause of blazes.
Kenya’s deadliest school fire in recent history occurred in 2001
when 67 students died in a dormitory fire in Machakos County.
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