Eight Students Arrested in Kenya School Arson Attack That Killed 16 — BREAKING
NAIROBI — Kenyan authorities have arrested eight students on suspicion of arson over a fire at a girls’ boarding school that killed 16 students and injured 79, police said Friday. The fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday at the Utumishi Girls’ Academy Senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru County, west-central Kenya. Survivors described a chaotic scene as students — some trapped behind locked emergency exits — tried to flee the burning dormitory. Preliminary investigations have identified eight students as persons of interest in connection with the planning and execution of the suspected arson attack, the Kenya Police Directorate of Criminal Investigations said in a statement. The eight girls are currently in police custody. Education Minister Julius Ogamba told a news conference that two teachers at the school had been informed of the students’ alleged plans but failed to act. The school also failed to observe safety rules, he said, pointing specifically to dormitory overcrowding and an emergency exit that was locked during the fire. The government has disbanded the school’s board of management. The tragedy has reignited concerns about fire safety in Kenyan boarding schools. A fire in 2024 at a primary boarding school in central Kenya’s Nyeri County killed 21 students. Kenya’s deadliest school fire killed 67 students in 2001 at Kyanguli Secondary School outside Nairobi — an incident authorities attributed to arson. The Kenya Red Cross said at least 79 students were injured, some in a stampede as they fled the burning building. The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation. — Amara Osei, Africa Correspondent | May 30, 2026
