By using this website you agree that we use cookies. You can find out more in the privacy policy.
Bombay Durpun - Kenya police probe school blaze that killed 17 boys
-
-
Choose a language
Automatically close in : 3
Wie gewohnt mit Werbung lesen
Nutzen Sie Bombay Durpun mit personalisierter Werbung, Werbetracking, Nutzungsanalyse und externen Multimedia-Inhalten. Details zu Cookies und Verarbeitungszwecken sowie zu Ihrer jederzeitigen Widerrufsmöglichkeit finden Sie unten, im Cookie-Manager sowie in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
Use Bombay Durpun with personalised advertising, ad tracking, usage analysis and external multimedia content. Details on cookies and processing purposes as well as your revocation option at any time can be found below, in the cookie manager as well as in our privacy policy.
Utilizar Bombay Durpun con publicidad personalizada, seguimiento de anuncios, análisis de uso y contenido multimedia externo. Los detalles sobre las cookies y los propósitos de procesamiento, así como su opción de revocación en cualquier momento, se pueden encontrar a continuación, en el gestor de cookies, así como en nuestra política de privacidad.
Utilisez le Bombay Durpun avec des publicités personnalisées, un suivi publicitaire, une analyse de l'utilisation et des contenus multimédias externes. Vous trouverez des détails sur les cookies et les objectifs de traitement ainsi que sur votre possibilité de révocation à tout moment ci-dessous, dans le gestionnaire de cookies ainsi que dans notre déclaration de protection des données.
Utilizzare Bombay Durpun con pubblicità personalizzata, tracciamento degli annunci, analisi dell'utilizzo e contenuti multimediali esterni. I dettagli sui cookie e sulle finalità di elaborazione, nonché la possibilità di revocarli in qualsiasi momento, sono riportati di seguito nel Cookie Manager e nella nostra Informativa sulla privacy.
Utilizar o Bombay Durpun com publicidade personalizada, rastreio de anúncios, análise de utilização e conteúdo multimédia externo. Detalhes sobre cookies e fins de processamento, bem como a sua opção de revogação em qualquer altura, podem ser encontrados abaixo, no Gestor de Cookies, bem como na nossa Política de Privacidade.
Kenyan police stepped up their investigations Saturday into a prime school dormitory blaze that killed 17 boys, as families faced an agonising wait for news of their missing loved ones.
Text size:
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had said on Friday that 70 youngsters were still unaccounted for after the fire broke out at Hillside Endarasha Academy in the central Nyeri county around midnight Thursday.
The flames engulfed a dormitory at the primary school where more than 150 boys aged between nine and 13 were sleeping.
The cause of the inferno is not yet known but homicide investigators and forensic experts were at the school on Saturday, while media were barred from the site.
The charred bodies of victims, which police had said were burnt beyond recognition, were still in the dormitory, now a blackened shell with its corrugated iron roof completely collapsed.
"Today we want to begin the process of DNA testing," Kenya's chief homicide detective Martin Nyuguto told AFP at the scene.
President William Ruto declared three days of national mourning starting from Monday after what he described as an "unfathomable tragedy".
He said on Friday that 17 children had lost their lives, while 14 had sustained injuries and were being treated in hospital.
"I pledge that the difficult questions that have been asked such as how this tragedy occurred and why the response was not timely will be answered; fully, frankly, and without fear or favour," Ruto said in a statement.
"All relevant persons and bodies will be held to account."
- 'He can't be dead' -
Kenya's National Gender and Equality Commission said initial reports indicated the dorm was "overcrowded, in violation of safety standards".
The blaze has highlighted the issue of safety at schools in Kenya, after numerous similar disasters over the years.
In a statement from the Vatican on Saturday, Pope Francis said he was "deeply saddened" at the loss of young life and expressed his "spiritual closeness to all who are suffering the effects of this calamity, especially the injured and the families who grieve".
On Friday, tensions were running high among families gathered at the school, anxious for news of their missing children.
Many broke down after officials took them to see the bodies in the destroyed dorm.
"Please look for my kid. He can't be dead. I want my child," one woman cried in distress.
- Counselling -
The Kenya Red Cross said it was on the ground assisting a multi-agency response team and providing psychosocial support to traumatised pupils and families.
Muchai Kihara, 56, said he was lucky to find his 12-year-old son Stephen Gachingi alive after rushing to the school around 1 am on Friday.
"I cannot begin to imagine what he went through. I am happy he is alive but he had some injuries at the back of his head and the smoke had affected his eyes," he told AFP.
"I just want him to be counselled now to see if his life will return to normal," Kihara said as he sat with his son on a bench beside a white Red Cross tent where families are being counselled.
There have been many school fires both in Kenya and across East Africa.
In 2016, nine students were killed by a fire at a girls' high school in the sprawling slum neighbourhood of Kibera in Nairobi.
In 2001, 67 pupils were killed in an arson attack on their dormitory at a secondary school in Machakos south of Nairobi.
In 1994, 40 school children were burned alive and 47 injured in a fire that tore through a girls' school in Tanzania's Kilimanjaro region.
In 2022, a blaze ravaged a school for the blind in eastern Uganda. Eleven pupils died after they were trapped inside their shared bedroom because the building had been burglar-proofed, government ministers said at the time.