A fire at a girls’ dormitory in Kenya on Thursday killed 16 children and left 79 others hospitalized in one of the country’s latest deadly school blazes.
The fire broke out shortly before 1 a.m. local time at Utumishi Girls Academy in Nakuru County, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Nairobi, officials said.
Kenya has seen repeated tragedies involving school fires, with boarding schools widely used, a system rooted in colonial-era missionary and British education models.
“We have 16 fatalities. It’s an unfortunate incident,” Education Minister Julius Migos Ogamba told reporters at the scene, without giving the victims’ ages.
The affected dormitory had shattered windows, blackened walls and a crumpled corrugated iron roof, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist reported.
