Kenya school fire kills at least 10 students, media say

NAIROBI - A dormitory fire in Kenya's central region of Nakuru killed at least 10 students, media said on Thursday, citing a senior police official.

Emergency rescue teams were searching the dormitory at Utumishi Girls Academy, where the fire started at about 1 a.m. (2200 GMT), radio station Capital FM said, citing Samuel Ndanyi, the regional police commander.

"It is a distressing and saddening situation," county police official Masoud Mwinyi told distraught parents outside the school, said another broadcaster, Citizen Television.

Firefighters and police officers had fanned out to control the blaze and evacuate other students, Capital FM added. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

In 2024, a fire killed 21 students at a primary boarding school in nearby Nyeri county.

(Reporting by George Obulutsa and Vincent Mumo Nzilani; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 12:52 AM.