Kenyan police arrest eight students over boarding school fire that killed 16

Kenyan police have arrested eight students on suspicion of arson, after a fire in a dormitory at a girls’ boarding school killed 16 children.

The female students were arrested for planning and carrying out a suspected arson attack at Utumishi Girls School in central Kenya, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said.

The blaze, which left 79 others injured, broke out on Thursday morning local time at the school ‌in Gilgil, in the county of Nakuru - about 74 miles (120km) from Nairobi.

The motive for any potential arson remains under investigation, police said.

Detectives questioned 30 students on Thursday and told their parents to go home without the girls and return on Friday morning.

"Investigators have conducted extensive interviews with students, teaching staff, and other witnesses, while forensic teams carry out a detailed review of available CCTV footage," DCI spokesperson John Marete said.

Parents said they were left in limbo on Friday and have received no information on when the rest of the students would be released.

One parent, who spoke anonymously, said: "We have not even been told about the eight that police have arrested. We are just here and no one is giving us any information."

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Mr Marete added: "Detectives continue to record statements and analyse all available evidence to reconstruct the sequence of events, establish the full circumstances of the incident, and determine the motive".

The bodies of the 16 students who died were taken to a government hospital morgue on Thursday, where DNA testing will be undertaken to ascertain their identities.

School fires are relatively common in Kenya and East Africa, where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded, and there's often no firefighting equipment in place.

The fires are sometimes attributed to electrical faults or to students burning down schools because of behaviour issues.

Many students stay at boarding schools in Kenya because parents believe it gives their children more time to study without a long commute.

In 2024, at least 17 students were killed after a fire at Hillside Endarasha Primary in Nyeri county.

A school fire in Nairobi killed 10 students in 2017.

In 2001, 58 schoolboys were killed in a dormitory fire at Kyanguli Secondary School outside Nairobi.

(c) Sky News 2026: Kenyan police arrest eight students over boarding school fire that killed 16