The death of at least 17 pupils at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri on Thursday night has evoked memories of past fire incidents that claimed lives in Kenyan schools.
The pupils at the school were burnt beyond recognition when their dormitory caught fire.
The tragedy is one of the country’s worst cases of fire in the country’s boarding schools in which innocent and young souls have been burnt alive.
Here is the history of Kenya’s past fire incidents in Kenyan schools that shocked the country.
The fire tragedy at Kyanguli Secondary School in 2001
The fire tragedy is the country’s worst tragedy with the highest toll ever that claimed the lives of 67 boys in the school that is located in Machakos.
The shocking act of arson was believed to have been masterminded by two 16-year-old students of the school who were said to have been disgruntled.
The arsonists dosed the iron-roofed house with petrol in the dead of the night and set it ablaze, engulfing the dormitory that housed over 100 students aged between 15 and 19 in a fierce fire.
Some survivors said some students were angered by the school’s demands for payment of fee arrears and the cancellation of the previous year’s KCSE results by the examination council over alleged cheating.
Some learners blamed the school administration for the problem.
Others said a hostile student-teacher relationship occasioned by alleged heavy-handedness was a probable motive.
Bombolulu Girls Secondary School fire - 1998
Twenty-six girls died in Bombolulu girls’ secondary school near Mazeras, Kwale.
Reports indicated that all the students who died were in an overcrowded dormitory of about 130 students.
It was also said that one of the two doors to the dormitory was locked from the outside and all of its ten windows were barred. There were also no fire extinguishers.
It said some of the girls were killed in a stampede as they tried to escape through two narrow doors.
The school has now been renamed Mazeras Memorial Girl’s School.
Asumbi Girls Boarding Primary School -2012
In August 2012, eight pupils of Asumbi Girls boarding Primary School in Homa Bay, died after a fire razed their dormitory.
The young girls were burnt beyond recognition in a fire believed to have been caused by an electricity fault.
The dormitory had its windows grilled with wire mesh and had no emergency exit.
The dormitory is said to have been locked from outside making it hard for the pupils to escape or get immediate help.
Nyeri High School fire -1999
In 1999, an arson attack at Nyeri High School claimed the lives of four school prefects.
Students locked up the four prefects in the main cubicle in the boys’ dormitory while they slept, doused it with petrol and set it on fire.
It later transpired that some students who had been suspended the previous term had sneaked back to the school with the sole intention of revenging those they blamed for the disciplinary action taken against them.
Endarasha Boys Secondary School fire – 2010
On the night of 17 October 2010, tragedy hit Endarasha Boys Secondary School when two of its Form 1 students perished in a dormitory fire.
The fire was said to have been caused by 11 of their colleague students who were suspected to have set the dormitory on fire.
The 11 were later charged with two counts of murder contrary to section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code, cap. 63.
St Kizito Secondary School Tigania fire, 1991
In one of the country’s worst massacres that saw 19 girls die after boys stormed their dormitory, attacked, raped and killed them.
At 8.30 pm, a power outage blanketed the school in darkness. The girls were first to go to their sleeping quarters, as was the tradition whenever the power supply was interrupted.
Unknown to them, the boys had short-circuited the electricity supply in a ploy to have them leave the classrooms early.
At around 10 pm, heavy stones started raining on the girls’ dormitories. Terrified, they ran to hide in their largest dormitory, Mbatian, as previously instructed by the head girl.
It was thought to be the safest as it had strong doors and steel grills. 270 girls were now crammed in a dorm that usually housed 70 girls. The enterprising girls closed the doors and windows hoping against hope for respite.
It came but for a while because a teacher had been able to convince the boys to go back to their dorms. Satisfied, the teacher proceeded to his own home.
At 1.00 am. the girls' calm was again shattered when heavy stones rained again. The boys had returned and they broke down the doors as the girls cowered and pleaded. Inside the dorm, the girls squeezed themselves in the corner of the room, crying their lungs out.
They had powerful torches that helped them identify their victims, who they suspected of having relationships with some school officials. They mercilessly attacked the girls raping them over and over again. Others were seriously injured as beds fell on them.
In the ensuing melee, others were trampled to death. The boys then fled. The aftermath was chilling. A total of 19 girls lay dead, and 71 were injured. Many were raped. Four of the girls suffocated to death.
Moi Girls High School fire in 2017
On September 1, 2017, Kabarnet dormitory was gutted by an inferno that left 10 of the students who had just reported back to school dead and their families grieving the loss of their daughters.
A student who started a fire that led to the death of the 10 was later found guilty of manslaughter and convicted and handed five years in jail.
The accused who was at the time a minor and aged 14 years was housed in Kabarnet dormitory, where the inferno occurred.
The prosecution called 42 witnesses. They included students of Moi Girls and her friends.
There were also members of the school administration including the principal.
Evidence on record from the mother of one of the victims revealed that the accused had a matchbox and one day she demonstrated to her classmates how she could cast spells using the matchbox.
The accused on the day of the fire prayed before going to bed, asking God for forgiveness for what she was about to do that night.
The incident shocked the country and raised concerns about the safety of students in boarding schools.
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