PANIC IN KENYA AS ANOTHER SCHOOL FIRE LEAVES THREE INJURED

BY RAPHEAL LUBANGAKENE

Reports in Kenya on Saturday indicate that atleast three students have been injured after a fire broke out at a girls boarding school in central Kenya’s Isiolo towns.

Police, fire and rescue squads stormed the scene and appeared to use flash lights to search for any students and property in the destroyed dormitories.

A Kenyan police spokesperson said the blaze destroyed dormitories at Isiolo Girls High School, before being contained. But he said the cause of the fire is still unknown.

According to the rescue team (Kenya Red Cross), the three casualties sustained minor injuries, and received psychological help immediately.

But this has only intensified the public panic over safety standards in Kenyan schools.

Because only two days prior, there had been a devastating fire that killed atleast 21 children at Hillside Endarasha Academy, another boarding school in Nyeri, also in central Kenya.

Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua told journalists that 70 people had not yet been accounted for and called on parents who had picked up their children, as well as neighbours who helped those who fled, to report to authorities.

However, the response has been somewhat slow, to the disgruntlement of the stateholders with DNA testing set to begin this week to identify the bodies of children who perished.

On the cause of the fire outbreak which is still misty, the chief prosecutor said that investigators should “assess whether or not the tragedy may have resulted from negligence and/or recklessness.”

Fire outbreaks – a recurring problem in Kenya claimed the lives of 10 chilren at Moi Girls School in Nairobi in 2022, while, numbers were arrested in 2017 when a dormitory descended to ashes in the western side, on suspicion of arson.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

× How can I help you?