At least 17 children killed in ‘devastating’ primary school fire in Kenya
At least 17 children were killed and another 13 seriously injured after a fire ravaged the dormitory of a boarding school north of Nairobi, police said Friday. An investigation has been launched into the deadly primary school blaze, and Kenya’s president has vowed that those responsible for the tragic incident will be “held to account”.
At least 17 young children were killed in a fire that ripped through their primary school dormitory in central Kenya overnight, with initial reports Friday indicating it was overcrowded in breach of safety standards.
The blaze in Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county broke out at around midnight, police said, engulfing rooms where more than 150 children were sleeping.
Police said the average age of the victims was around nine years old.
"There are 17 fatalities from this incident and there are also others who were taken to hospital with serious injuries," national police spokesperson Resila Onyango told AFP.
"The bodies recovered at the scene were burnt beyond recognition," she said.
"More bodies are likely to be recovered once (the) scene is fully processed," she added.
Kenya's Citizen TV showed images of what appeared to be the aftermath of the blaze, with blackened corrugated iron roofing that had collapsed in on itself.
The cause of the fire was not yet known.
"This is devastating news."
(AFP)
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