At least 17 boys killed after fire broke out in the dormitory in which they were sleeping at Hillside Endarasha Academy School in Nyeri in the early hours of Friday.
“We saw several children in there that had been burnt,” Phillip Gathogo, a local resident, told reporters.
“I was just lucky to save one of them, but I heard that he later died. It was a very troubling and sad tragedy.”
Government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said the boys were in grades 4 to 8, putting their ages at about 9 to 13-years-old.
He said in a statement the dormitory housed 156 students.
“We have lost 17 pupils in the fire incident while 14 are injured,” police spokesperson Resila Onyango said. “Our team is at the scene at the moment.”
Vice President Rigathi Gachagua said 70 pupils remained unaccounted for, although he added that some may have been taken home by their parents in the night.
According to sources the fire had burnt the victims beyond recognition.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
“Many children managed to jump out and get to safety, but we do not know how many were successful,” Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said while visiting the school.
“The government assures full accountability for all whose action or inaction contributed to this tremendous loss,” Kindiki later wrote on X.
