17 Children Died In School Dormitory Fire In Central Kenya

JAKARTA - At least 17 boys died in a school dormitory fire in central Kenya in the early hours of Friday while sleeping, police said.

The fire broke out at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Pain, an elementary school for young students.

Citizen Television said the fire had burned the victim until it could not be recognized. Footage from the scene shows a collapsed zinc roof and a metal storage box charred over a level bed in the dormitory.

"We lost 17 students in the fire incident while another 14 were injured," police spokesman Resila Onyango said.

"Our team is currently at the location," he continued.

Meanwhile, government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said the victims who died in the fire were in grades 4 to 8, meaning they were around 9 to 13 years old.

Mwaura further explained in a statement that the school dormitory has a capacity of 156 students.

"The cause of the fire is not yet known, but we will notify the public if further information is received," Onyango told CNN.

Separately, President William Ruto said he had asked authorities to investigate what he called a "terrible incident", saying those responsible would be held accountable.

"Our thoughts are with the families of the children who lost their lives in the tragedy of the fire at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in the Painful Area," President Ruto said in an upload on X.

Authorities have closed the school, the Kenyan Red Cross said on X.

It is said that Kenya has a history of school fires, many of which turned out to be arson.

Nine students died in September 2017 in a fire at a school in the capital Nairobi, which the government attributed to arson.

In 2001, 58 school children died in a dormitory fire at Kyanguli Middle School outside Nairobi. Meanwhile, in 2012, eight students died at a school in Homa Bay County in western Kenya.