Kenyan police detectives and forensic consultants stand subsequent a constructing at Utumishi Women Academy the place a lethal hearth came about in Gilgil, north of the capital Nairobi on Could 28, 2026.
| Picture Credit score: AFP
Kenyan police arrested eight feminine college students on suspicion of arson, authorities mentioned on Friday (Could 29, 2026), after a hearth destroyed a dormitory at a boarding faculty, killing 16 youngsters and injuring dozens of others. The motive stays underneath investigation.
The ladies have been arrested for planning and finishing up a suspected arson assault at Utumishi Women College in central Kenya, in line with the Directorate of Legal Investigations, or DCI, a division of the nationwide police.
Along with the deaths, the blaze on Thursday morning (Could 28, 2026) left 79 others injured. Police spent the entire day questioning 30 college students on the faculty and requested their mother and father to go dwelling with out the women and are available again the following morning
“Investigators have carried out in depth interviews with college students, educating workers and different witnesses, whereas forensic groups perform an in depth assessment of obtainable CCTV footage,” DCI spokesperson John Marete mentioned in a press release.
Schooling Minister Julius Ogamba mentioned the varsity’s board of administration had been dissolved and the principal would face disciplinary motion for failing to adjust to the security handbook.
“Specifically, there was congestion within the dormitory and one exit door was locked, opposite to the prescribed security necessities,” he mentioned.
Two lecturers who have been conscious of deliberate unrest that will have led to the suspected arson may even face disciplinary motion.
On Friday morning (Could 29, 2026), mother and father remained in limbo on the faculty with no clear info on when the remainder of the scholars can be launched.
“We’ve not even been informed in regards to the eight that police have arrested,” a mother or father, who spoke on the situation of anonymity due to concern that her daughter may very well be victimised, informed The Related Press. “We’re simply right here and nobody is giving us any info,”
On the Naivasha hospital morgue, 28 kilometres from the varsity, anxious mother and father waited for DNA checks to determine their youngsters.
A distraught father, John Muiruri, mentioned they have been being given conflicting details about the situation of the our bodies. “They’ve simply been performing some sideshows, making an attempt to forestall us from realizing the reality however the actuality we’ve got come to know is that we’ve got misplaced our youngsters. We’ve come to phrases with actuality. What we wish to know is the place are the stays of our daughters,” he mentioned.
The motive of the arson assault wasn’t but identified.
“Detectives proceed to document statements and analyse all out there proof to reconstruct the sequence of occasions, set up the total circumstances of the incident and decide the motive,” Mr. Marete mentioned in a press release.
The our bodies of the 16 college students have been taken to a authorities hospital morgue, and have been present process DNA testing to establish their identities.
Fires at colleges have lengthy been a reason behind concern for schooling officers in East Africa, the place lecture rooms and dormitories are sometimes crowded, and there is normally no firefighting gear in place.
The fires are typically attributed to electrical faults however are additionally typically brought on by college students burning down colleges due to disciplinary points.
Printed – Could 29, 2026 10:35 pm IST