Families of children at a Kenyan primary school where a dormitory blaze killed 17 boys were facing an anguished wait Saturday for news of their missing loved ones.
Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua told reporters at the scene of the tragedy on Friday that 70 youngsters were still unaccounted for.
The fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy in the central Nyeri county broke out around midnight Thursday, engulfing a dormitory where more than 150 boys were sleeping.
President William Ruto declared three days of national mourning starting from Monday after what he described as an “unfathomable tragedy.”
He said 17 children aged between nine and 13 had lost their lives, while 14 had sustained injuries and were being treated in hospital.
“I pledge that the difficult questions that have been asked such as how this tragedy occurred and why the response was not timely will be answered; fully, frankly, and without fear or favour,” Ruto said in a statement.
“All relevant persons and bodies will be held to account, and we shall do all that is required to ensure that, as far as possible, we shall never again find ourselves in the grips of such a tragedy.”
Gachagua told reporters there were still 70 children unaccounted for, but said it did not mean they were dead or injured, but may have been taken by relatives or found shelter in the community.
He described the scene as “gory” and said painstaking investigative work using DNA would be required to help identify the victims.
“The bodies recovered at the scene were burnt beyond recognition,” national police spokesperson Resila Onyango told AFP.
