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Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya school fire kills 16 students as eight arrested over suspected arson

Sunday, 31 May 2026, 06:19 · 1 min read

A fire at Utumishi Girls School in Nakuru County, central Kenya, has killed 16 students and injured 79 others after tearing through a dormitory in the early hours of Thursday morning. Eight students have been arrested in connection with the suspected arson, with police citing CCTV footage and witness interviews as part of the ongoing investigation. The tragedy has been compounded for grieving families by delays in identifying victims — many bodies were too severely burned for visual identification — with DNA testing now underway. Kenya's Education Minister Julius Ogamba announced that the school's management board has been dissolved and its principal faces disciplinary action after investigators found that a dormitory exit door had been locked and the building was overcrowded, in violation of safety regulations. School fires are a persistent problem across East Africa, where overcrowded facilities and a lack of firefighting equipment leave students especially vulnerable.

Sources
AfricanewsParents of Kenya school fire victims await official identification ↗︎
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