NAIROBI — Sixteen students have been killed in a fire at a boarding school for girls in central Kenya, according to police.Authorities were trying to account for all the students at Utumishi Girls School in Gilgil, about 120km west of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, a policeman told journalists at the scene.Seventy-four students are being treated in hospital after being injured, he added.The fire broke out early Thursday morning in the boarding school’s dormitory when the students were asleep, according to the Kenya Red Cross and police.Police said search-and-rescue operations were under way with authorities yet to establish the cause of the fire. The Kenya Red Cross said emergency responders were on ground to offer support."It is a sad and saddening situation," police commander Masoud Mwinyi said, speaking to parents and crowds outside the school.Mwinyi said investigations were ongoing. The school has been cordoned off, with only parents being allowed inside.Fires are common in Kenyan boarding schools, with several deadly incidents reported in recent years. Overcrowding and the failure to follow safety guidelines have frequently been blamed for the high number of casualties.Kenya’s deadliest school fire in recent history occurred in 2001 when 67 students died in a dormitory fire in Machakos County.