17 students killed in Kenya elementary school fire with bodies ‘burnt beyond recognition’

(CNN) — At least 17 students have been killed and 14 injured following a fire in an elementary school dormitory in central Kenya.

The inferno occurred late Thursday at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni, in the country’s Nyeri county, Resila Onyango, a spokesperson for the Kenya National Police Service said. She added their bodies had been “burnt beyond recognition.”

“The cause of fire is unknown at this time but we will update the public when we know more,” Onyango told CNN.

She was unable to confirm whether the fire was under control, saying those details would be established by teams on the ground.

Government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said in a statement Friday that the fire broke out at around midnight in the male dormitory of the mixed private boarding school, adding that more than 150 boys were in the dormitory at the time.

Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday offered his condolences. Describing the incident as “devastating news,” Ruto said “our thoughts are with the families of the children who have lost their lives in the fire tragedy at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County,” in a post on X.

“I instruct relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible will be held to account,” his post continued, adding his government was “mobilizing all the necessary resources to support the affected families.”

Distraught parents converged on the school Friday morning, waiting anxiously for news as authorities searched for bodies and survivors.

The Kenya Red Cross also posted a statement Friday, saying it would provide “psychosocial support services to the pupils, teachers and affected families.”

The statement added that 11 children have so far been taken to hospital, with the area of the fire cordoned off by police.

Kenya Red Cross, alongside a “multi-agency response team,” is currently on the ground responding add has set up a tracing desk at the school, the statement continued.

School fires – often attributed to arson and overcrowding – are relatively common in Kenya, where similar tragedies have led to multiple casualties in the past.

In 2017, at least nine students died when a boarding school in the capital Nairobi erupted in flames. The government said at the time that the fire “was not an accident” but an “arson,” and part of a rising trend of deliberate school fires. From 2015 to 2016 around 350 schools had caught fire, according to official figures reported by Reuters .

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Nimi Princewill contributed to this report.

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