Kenyan police arrest 8 students on suspicion of arson after deadly girls school fire

Education Minister Julius Ogamba said Friday the school’s board of management had been dissolved and the principal would face disciplinary action for failing to comply with the safety manual.

“In particular, there was congestion in the dormitory and one exit door was locked, contrary to the prescribed safety requirements,” he said.

Two teachers who were aware of planned unrest that may have led to the suspected arson will also face disciplinary action.

On Friday morning, parents remained in limbo at the school with no clear information on when the rest of the students would be released.

“We have not even been told about the eight that police have arrested,” a parent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear that her daughter could be victimized, told The Associated Press. “We are just here and no one is giving us any information,”

The motive of the arson attack wasn’t yet known.

“Detectives continue to record statements and analyze all available evidence to reconstruct the sequence of events, establish the full circumstances of the incident and determine the motive,” Marete said in a statement.

The bodies of the 16 students were taken to a government hospital morgue on Thursday, and were undergoing DNA testing to ascertain their identities.

Fires at schools have long been a cause of concern for education officials in East Africa, where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded, and there’s usually no firefighting equipment in place. The fires are sometimes attributed to electrical faults but are also sometimes caused by students burning down schools because of disciplinary issues.

Evelyne Musambi, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Kenyan police arrest 8 students on suspicion of arson after deadly girls school fire

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