At least 17 children died after a fire ripped through their primary school dormitory overnight in central Kenya, police said on Friday. The blaze in Nyeri county\u2019s Hillside Endarasha Academy broke out at around midnight, police said, engulfing rooms where the children were sleeping. The primary school caters to some 800 pupils, aged between roughly five and 12. \u201cThere are 17 fatalities from this incident and there are also others who were taken to hospital with serious injuries,\u201d national police spokesperson Resila Onyango told AFP. \u201cThe bodies recovered at the scene were burnt beyond recognition,\u201d she said. Police said the average age of the victims was around nine years old. Several others were injured, Onyango said, 16 of them seriously, and had been rushed to a nearby hospital. \u201cMore bodies are likely to be recovered once (the) scene is fully processed,\u201d she said. The cause of the fire remains unknown, she said, but an investigation had been launched. President William Ruto expressed his condolences for those killed. \u201cOur thoughts are with the families of the children who have lost their lives in the fire tragedy,\u201d he said in a post on X. \u201cThis is devastating news.\u201d He said he had instructed officials to \u201cthoroughly investigate this horrific incident\u201d, and promised that those responsible will be \u201cheld to account\u201d. The school is located around 170 kilometres (100 miles) north of the capital Nairobi, in Nyeri county. The Kenyan Red Cross said it was on the ground assisting a multi-agency response team. In a post on X, it said it was \u201cproviding psychosocial support services to the pupils, teachers and affected families\u201d. Deadly blazes There have been numerous school fires in Kenya and across East Africa. In 2016, nine students were killed by a fire at a girls\u2019 high school in the Kibera neighbourhood of Nairobi. In 2001, 67 pupils were killed by an arson attack on their dormitory at the Kyanguli Mixed Secondary School David Mutiso in Kenya\u2019s southern Machakos district. Two pupils were charged with the murder, and the headmaster and deputy of the school were convicted of negligence. In 1994, 40 school children were burned alive and 47 injured in a fire that ravaged the Shauritanga Secondary School for Girls in the northern region of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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