At least one student was critically injured, and property of unknown value was destroyed after a mysterious fire burned down a dormitory at Otieno Oyoo Secondary School in Kisumu County.
Reports indicate that the fire began on Tuesday morning at around 2:00 am while most of the students were asleep, and they were only woken up by thick smoke that had engulfed the whole building.
Witnesses reported that students residing in the dormitory at the time of the incident scrambled to safety through the windows and doors, screaming for help.
Rescue efforts were launched immediately, with fellow students and some villagers assisting in removing those trapped inside the building.
However, efforts to put out the fire proved futile as the flames escalated, engulfing the whole building and consequently destroying all the students' belongings.
While the exact cause of the inferno is yet to be established, police officers have since launched investigations to determine the root cause of the incident.
The incident has fuelled concerns over the surging cases of mysterious fires, particularly in boarding institutions. In a similar situation on August 6 of this year, a fire razed property worth millions at Narok Full Gospel Church.
According to reports, the fire gutted a dormitory that housed rescued girls within the church compound. However, the cause of the fire was not immediately established.
Reports further indicated that the girls made desperate attempts to salvage their belongings before the flames overwhelmed them. It took the intervention of residents to extinguish the blaze after efforts to reach the County Disaster Management Department proved futile.
In a similar incident on July 7 this year, panic gripped Onjiko High School in Kisumu County after fire burned down the second floor of one of the dormitories while the students were undertaking their evening lessons.
Firefighters from the Kisumu Disaster Management team responded swiftly and managed to put out the flames, which had begun spreading to other parts of the storey building.
The entire second floor, including the rooftop, was destroyed, leaving the students stranded after losing their belongings.
