Overview
- The fire began in a dormitory at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil in the early hours of Thursday, May 28, 2026, and was put out about three hours later after killing 16 students and injuring 79.
- The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has detained eight students as persons of interest accused of planning and carrying out the blaze while forensic teams and detectives continue to collect evidence and review CCTV and witness statements.
- Officials reported serious safety breaches in the affected block, including overcrowding and at least one exit locked during the fire, and said some pupils were forced to jump from windows to escape.
- Firefighters, Kenya Defence Forces personnel and the Kenya Red Cross led rescue and medical operations, with injured students treated in local hospitals and the 16 deceased moved to Naivasha hospital morgue pending formal identification and forensic tests.
- The tragedy follows a pattern of deadly boarding-school fires in Kenya and has already prompted disciplinary moves at the school, a temporary closure for investigations, and calls for tighter enforcement of dormitory safety rules nationwide.