Kenya holds a memorial service for 16 victims of last month’s girls school fire
Mourners called for accountability as police said nine suspects were arrested in a blaze that killed 16 students.
- First Lady Rachel Ruto led a memorial service on Friday at Gilgil Stadium for 16 Utumishi Girls Academy students who died in a fire, with hundreds of mourners and senior government officials in attendance.
- Authorities arrested nine suspects after investigations revealed the blaze at the school was started by lighting a dormitory mattress with a matchstick and paraffin on May 28.
- School captain Abigael Wanjiku eulogized the victims as "friends, study partners, teammates and companions," saying "The pain of losing them is one that we will carry for a long time."
- One student was previously buried on Sunday in Kwale County, while the bodies of 15 victims at the stadium will be released to families for burial arrangements.
- The Education Ministry closed more than 300 schools following a 2024 fire tragedy that killed 21 boys in Kenya, reflecting persistent safety concerns across learning institutions.
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The Citizen
Mwanzo TVKenya mourns schoolgirls killed in suspected dorm arson attack
Kenyan families were overwhelmed with grief at a mass Friday for 16 girls killed in a suspected arson attack on their school — part of a string of pupil protests that have unnerved the country. Kenya has seen 47 fires at schools this year as pupils protest a range of issues including exam stress, corruption and conditions at boarding schools that are very common in the east African country. Tragedy strikes a school community “Why, why God have y…
Kenya holds a memorial service for 16 victims of last month’s girls school fire
Hundreds of mourners gathered in Kenya’s central town of Gilgil for a memorial service to honor the lives of 16 students who died in a school fire last month that police said was caused by arson.
Associated Press News
Kenya holds a memorial service for 16 victims of last month's girls school fire
Hundreds of mourners gathered in Kenya’s central town of Gilgil for a memorial service to honor the lives of 16 students who died in a school fire last month that police said was caused by arson.
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