NAKURU, Kenya- Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin on Thursday travelled to Gilgil, Nakuru County, as the death toll from the devastating dormitory fire at Utumishi Girls Academy rose to 16.
The two senior security officials visited the school hours after the deadly inferno swept through a dormitory housing more than 200 students in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Police said 74 students were injured and admitted to various health facilities following the tragedy, which has shocked the country and reignited concerns over safety standards in boarding schools.
According to a police report filed at Gilgil Police Station, the fire broke out at around 4.30am in the Meline Waithera Block dormitory, which housed Grade 10, Form Three and Form Four students.
The report indicates that the school principal, Joycelene Muraguri, alerted authorities immediately after the fire erupted.
Officers from Gilgil Police Station, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and multiple emergency response teams rushed to the scene.
Firefighters from Naivasha, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), the Administration Police Service Training Unit (ASTU), Kenya Forest Service (KFS), and the National Youth Service (NYS) managed to contain the inferno after hours of rescue operations.
Authorities said the injured students were taken to Gilgil Sub-County Hospital and St. Mark’s Hospital, where they are receiving treatment.
DCI detectives and Crime Scene Investigation officers processed the scene as investigators began piecing together the circumstances that led to the deadly blaze.
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
The tragedy comes amid renewed scrutiny of school safety in Kenya following previous deadly dormitory fires, including the Hillside Endarasha Academy inferno in Nyeri that killed 21 pupils in 2024.
