An ambulance drives up to the Hillside Endarasha Primary school following a fire in a dorm, in Nyeri, Kenya, Sep. 6, 2024. AP

A fire tore through an elementary boarding school dormitory in central Kenya, killing 17 boys and seriously burning 14 others, officials said Friday. The Hillside Endarasha Primary school has about 800 pupils, between roughly five- and 12-years-old, according to the French news agency AFP.

"We have lost 17 pupils in the fire incident while 14 are injured," Reuters quoted police spokesperson Resila Onyango as saying. The news agency quoted government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura as saying the victims were boys in grades four to eight, which would put their ages at 9 to 13-years-old.

"We are investigating the cause and will take necessary action," Onyango said of the fire at the school in Kenya's Nyeri county.

AFP quoted her as saying the "bodies recovered at the scene were burnt beyond recognition."

Police said the blaze broke out around midnight and engulfed the dorm as the students slept.

The Kenyan Red Cross was assisting a multi-agency response team at the scene. In a post on X, the agency said it was "providing psychosocial support services to the pupils, teachers and affected families."

President William Ruto called the news "devastating" and said action would be taken against those responsible.

"I instruct relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible will be held to account," he wrote on the social media platform X.

His deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, urged school administrators to ensure that safety guidelines recommended by the education ministry for boarding schools are being followed.

School fires are common in Kenyan boarding schools, where many students stay because parents believe it gives them more time to study without long commutes.

Some fires have been started by students during protests over the workload or living conditions. In 2017, 10 high school students died in a school fire in the capital, Nairobi.


An infographic shows the location of a deadly fire that broke out in a dorm at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county, about 93 miles north of Nairobi. Yasin Demirci/Anadolu/Getty

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