A suspected arson attack at a Kenyan girls’ boarding school has left 16 students dead and 79 injured, exposing alleged negligence, overcrowding and ignored warnings. Authorities have arrested eight students as investigators probe one of the country’s deadliest school tragedies in years.

Local authorities said the fire broke out in a dormitory where 220 girls had been sleeping.

A fire at a girls' dormitory in Kenya on Thursday resulted in 16 children dead and 79 others hospitalized, marking one of the deadliest incidents at a school in the East African…