Overview
- A fire tore through a girls’ dormitory at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil during the early hours of Thursday, killing at least 16 students and injuring 79 others.
- Rescue teams from the fire service, Kenya Defence Forces, police and the Red Cross extinguished the blaze and treated victims with several taken to Naivasha Subcounty Referral Hospital.
- The Directorate of Criminal Investigations says it has detained eight students as suspects linked to planning and carrying out the fire while forensic teams examine the scene.
- First responders and survivors reported locked or closed doors and that some pupils escaped by jumping from windows, prompting an official review of evacuation routes, exits and overcrowding.
- The tragedy has renewed national scrutiny of boarding school safety in Kenya after past deadly dormitory fires and may trigger policy and accountability actions by education and security authorities.