DNA tests to identify victims of a fire at a school dormitory in central Kenya on Thursday night that killed 21 boys are due to begin on Monday, along with a three-day national mourning period.
The tragedy, which also left 17 people missing, has raised doubts among civil society about the effectiveness of safety standards in Kenyan schools.
The fire at Hillside Academy in Endarasha, Nyeri County, broke out around midnight on Thursday in a dormitory where more than 150 boys were sleeping. The school, which has some 800 pupils aged between 9 and 13, is about 170km north of the capital Nairobi.
Nineteen bodies were found in the ruins of the charred building, and two other boys died in hospital. However, 17 other boys remain missing, government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said on Saturday.
According to the police, the charred bodies found were unrecognizable and the families are waiting in anxiety to know the fate of their children.
“Forensic operations to identify the bodies will begin on Monday because that is the only way to identify them,” Pius Murigu, a Nyeri county official, told AFP on Sunday.
“We are asking the affected families to come to Naromoru Hospital tomorrow to participate in the forensic identification process,” he added, referring to a hospital site that is an hour’s drive from the school.
Forensic operations chief Johansen Oduor said autopsies would begin on Tuesday.
– Flags at half mast –
Kenyan President William Ruto declared three days of national mourning starting Monday, citing an “unimaginable tragedy”.
National flags must be flown at half-mast on all public buildings in the country, military bases and embassies from dawn on Monday until sunset on Wednesday.
President Ruto said on Friday that he had called for “a thorough investigation into this horrific incident” and promised that those responsible would be “brought to account”.
The Kenya Red Cross has been providing psychological support to traumatised children and families in white tents set up near the Endarasha school.
There have been many school fires in Kenya in the past.
On Saturday, two days after the tragedy, another fire broke out in a girls’ school in Isiolo County, also in the centre of the country.
Isiolo County communications director Hussein Salesa told AFP on Saturday that several people had been injured, a claim denied by police.
And on Sunday a third fire reduced the dormitory of Njia Boys High School in Meru County, also in the center of the country, to ashes while students were having dinner. The building houses about 150 students but no one was injured.
For his part, Kenya’s Attorney General Renson Ingonga on Saturday asked the police to determine whether the Endarasha fire was caused by negligence or carelessness, adding that the tragedy “brings up bad memories of other similar fires in other schools”.
According to the Kenyan Commission on Gender and Equality, which is also calling for a full investigation into the incident, initial reports indicate that the dormitory was “overcrowded, in violation of safety regulations”.
“This incident raises serious concerns regarding the right of children to safety in schools,” said the NGO Vocal Africa in a statement on X.
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