At least 16 people have died and 73 others have been taken to hospital after a fire swept through a girls’ boarding school dormitory in Kenya’s Nakuru County, police and local authorities say.
The blaze broke out overnight at Utumishi Girls Academy, about 120km (75 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi, while hundreds of students were asleep.
Local authorities said the fire started in a dormitory housing around 220 girls, raising fears the death toll could rise as emergency workers continue rescue operations.
“First responders, ambulance crew and our support personnel are currently on the ground,” a spokesperson for the Kenyan Red Cross told journalists, declining to confirm casualty figures.
It was not immediately clear whether all the victims were students.
The school is associated with Kenya’s National Police Service and is located in an area that also hosts military and police training facilities.
Local media reported scenes of panic outside the school, with distraught parents held behind security cordons as emergency teams battled the flames and searched the damaged building.
The tragedy has renewed concerns over fire safety standards in Kenyan boarding schools, where deadly dormitory fires have occurred repeatedly over the years.
Two year’s ago, at least 21 boys were killed after a dormitory fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County.
Authorities have previously linked some school fires to arson. A government report recorded dozens of suspected arson incidents in schools, citing exam pressure, long school terms and copycat behaviour allegedly coordinated through smuggled mobile phones.
Following previous tragedies, the Kenyan government pledged to carry out nationwide school safety inspections and prosecute institutions found violating safety regulations.
Investigations into the cause of the latest fire are under way.
