At least eight schoolgirls have been arrested on suspicion of deliberately starting a fire at a girls' boarding school in Kenya, after the blaze killed 16 students and injured 79, police said.
The fire broke out early Thursday morning at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil, west-central Kenya.
On Friday, the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations said preliminary probes had identified eight individuals as "persons of interest in the planning and execution of the suspected arson attack." According to a statement, "eight female students have been arrested and are currently in police custody."
Al Jazeera's Catherine Soi, reporting from the scene, said police are still investigating whether the fire was set deliberately. "We have spoken to parents who have been here since early in the morning. They are very upset because no one is giving them information," she said. "There are parents who said they have not seen their child even once—I assume those are cases of students who died—and there are parents whose children are still inside being questioned," Soi added.
Student Hilda Njeri, who was in the worst-hit dormitory, told Al Jazeera: "I was seriously injured on my legs and lower back." She said the principal took students to the hospital and paid all medical bills as they left school on Friday. "The fire was very big; we could not get past because there was no water to put it out, so we had to jump through windows," she said, adding that it was difficult to breathe inside the building.
Kenya's Education Minister Julius Ogamba said early investigations revealed two teachers were informed of the students' plan but failed to stop it. Ogamba added that the school violated safety rules, including overcrowded dormitories and locked fire escapes. The Kenyan government has dissolved the school's board of management and will take appropriate disciplinary and legal action against any staff found negligent.
Thursday's school fire is one of several in Kenya. In 2024, a fire at a primary boarding school in Nyeri County killed 21 students. In 2001, 67 boys at Kyanguli High School died in an arson attack.
