A fire at a school dormitory in Kenya has killed 17 students and left 13 others severely burned, police said Friday.
The death toll could rise, authorities said.
The cause of the fire at Hillside Endarasha Primary School in Nyeri County on Thursday night was under investigation, police spokeswoman Resila Onyango said. The school has pupils aged up to 14.
County Commissioner Pius Murugu and the Ministry of Education said more than 150 children lived in the building that was affected by the fire. As most of the buildings are made of wooden planks, the flames spread very quickly.
The school, which has 824 students, is located in the central highlands of the country, 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi, where wooden structures are common.
Anxious parents who had been unable to locate their children among the survivors waited at the school in grief.
The country’s president, William Ruto, called the news “devastating” and said action would be taken against those responsible.
“I have ordered the relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible will be held accountable,” he wrote on X.
Vice President Rigathi Gachagua, meanwhile, called on school administrators to ensure that safety guidelines recommended by the Ministry of Education for boarding schools are followed.
Fires at boarding schools are common in Kenya, where many students choose such accommodation because parents believe they will have more time to study without long commutes.
Some fires have been started by students themselves during protests over workload or living conditions. In 2017, 10 secondary school students were killed in such an incident at a school in Nairobi.
The deadliest occurred in 2001, when 67 students died at a boarding school in Machakos County.
