Nine students charged with orchestrating a fatal fire at a girls’ boarding school in central Kenya faced a judge Tuesday as authorities requested additional time to complete their investigation into the deadly incident.
The High Court in Naivasha, located 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Nairobi, the capital, announced it would decide Wednesday whether to allow the detention of the accused students for an additional month while the probe continues.
The devastating blaze occurred on May 28 at Utumishi Girls School, sweeping through a dormitory that housed 202 students. According to investigators, the school matron was unable to unlock an emergency exit, forcing all students to flee through just one door.
The nine accused students have remained in police custody for five days. During questioning, authorities learned the fire began when someone used a matchstick and paraffin to ignite a mattress near the dormitory exit. Officials have not yet disclosed any motive for the attack.
DNA testing results to identify some victims whose bodies were severely burned are scheduled to be released Wednesday.
Security camera footage recovered from the destroyed dormitory captured six students igniting the fire just before other students awakened and rushed to escape the flames that ultimately injured 79 people.
Following this tragedy, five additional school fires have broken out across the nation, and the Kenya Red Cross has responded to 37 school fires since January began. None of these other incidents resulted in deaths or injuries.
School fires occur frequently in Kenya, where educational facilities often suffer from overcrowded classrooms and dormitories while lacking accessible firefighting equipment. The most devastating incident happened in 2001 when 67 students perished in Machakos County, while the latest fatal fire occurred in 2024, claiming 21 children’s lives in Nyeri County.
Previous cases have involved students deliberately setting fires at their schools due to disciplinary conflicts.
