NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya have arrested eight female students on suspicion of arson, authorities said Friday, after a fire destroyed a dormitory at a boarding school, killing 16 children and injuring dozens of others. The motive is still unknown.
Police held 30 students overnight for questioning. Authorities said school administrators would face disciplinary action for safety violations after an exit door was found to be locked during the panicked rush to escape the building. At least 79 people were injured.
Education Minister Julius Ogamba said two teachers were aware that students were planning something but failed to take appropriate action, without elaborating.
A full day after the blaze, some parents said they had still not been told whether their children were under arrest or just being questioned.
“We have not even been told about the eight that police have arrested,” a parent, who spoke on 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.”
At a hospital morgue some 28 kilometers (18 miles) from the school, other parents awaited DNA tests to identify their children. A distraught father, John Muiruri, said they were being given conflicting information about the location of the bodies.
“They have just been doing some sideshows, trying to prevent us from knowing the truth, but the reality we have come to know is that we have lost our children,” he said. “What we want to know is where are the remains of our daughters.”
The Utumishi Girls School, located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital, Nairobi, is managed and sponsored by the police, and many of the students are daughters of police officers.
“Investigators have conducted extensive interviews with students, teaching staff and other witnesses, while forensic teams carry out a detailed review of available CCTV footage,” John Marete, a spokesman for the investigative arm of the national police, said in a statement.
Education Minister Ogamba said the school’s board of management had been dissolved and the principal would face disciplinary action for failing to comply with safety regulations.
“In particular, there was congestion in the dormitory and one exit door was locked, contrary to the prescribed safety requirements,” he said.
Fires at schools have long been a cause of concern for education officials in East Africa, where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded and firefighting equipment is rarely within reach.
Fires are sometimes attributed to electrical faults but there have also been cases of students burning down schools because of disciplinary issues.
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Associated Press journalist Zelipha Kirobi in Gilgil, Kenya, contributed.