At least 18 boys have been killed and 27 more were taken to hospital after a fire raged through the dormitory of a boarding school in central Kenya in the early hours of Friday.
Kenya’s deputy-president, Rigathi Gachagua, gave the toll at the scene at the Hillside Endarasha academy, a primary school in the town of Endarasha, where the fire broke out at about midnight engulfing rooms where more than 150 children were sleeping.
He said a further 70 children remained unaccounted for, although he added that some may have been taken home by their parents in the night.
The Nyeri county commissioner, Pius Murugu, and the education ministry reported that the dormitory that caught fire housed more than 150 boys between the ages of 10 and 14.
According to eyewitnesses, who came to the scene immediately they could not rescue the kids as the doors were closed and the huge flames had already engulfed a huge part of the building.
According to them ,the rescue mission was impossible and they were forced to watch as some of the kids jumped off the fence leavithe school.
Sadly cop who spoke said all the bodies recovered at the scene were burned beyond recognition.
More bodies are likely to be recovered once the scene is fully processed.”
The interior minister, Kithure Kindiki, said some children sought shelter at houses neighbouring the school. “There are some children who are alive and well, but they are of course traumatised and they are in the hands of those who gave them refuge last night,” he said.
By Newsmedia