Eight girls have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a school in Kenya Police News

The fire broke out at the Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil and killed 16 people and injured 79 others.

At least eight students have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a school that killed girls in Kenya. 16 students and 79 injuriessaid the police.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday at the Utumishi Girls Academy Senior School in Gilgil, west-central Kenya.

On Friday, the Directorate of Criminal Investigation said that the initial investigation found eight people as “people involved in the planning and execution of the suspected arsonists”.

“The eight girls have been arrested and are currently in police custody,” the statement added.

Commenting on the school, Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi said the police are still investigating the cause of the fire.

“We have been talking to the parents who have been here since morning, they are very upset because no one has informed them,” he said.

“We have parents who say they haven’t seen their children at all – I think they are the same, the students (who) died – then we have parents whose loved ones, the students, are still being interrogated,” added Soi.

Student Hilda Njeri, who was in one of the rooms most affected by the fire, told Al Jazeera that she is dealing with everything that happened.

“I seriously injured my leg, and my back was seriously injured,” Njeri said outside the school on Friday, adding that the principal took the students to the hospital and paid all the bills for treatment.

“The fire was big (big); we couldn’t go through the fire because we didn’t have water to put out the fire, so we jumped out of the window,” he said, adding that he was having trouble breathing while inside the house.

Kenya’s education minister, Julius Ogamba, told reporters that a quick investigation found that two teachers were informed of the students’ plans, but failed to stop them.

Ogamba added that the school failed to follow safety regulations, regarding overcrowding in dorms and emergency exits.

The Kenyan government has dissolved the school’s management committee and will take appropriate action and punishment against staff found to have neglected their duties, he said.

Thursday’s school fire follows others in Kenya. In 2024, a fire at a primary school in Nyeri district killed 21 students. In 2001, 67 students at Kyanguli Secondary School were killed in an arson attack.