New details have emerged that a student who had displayed suicidal tendencies could have started the fire in the Moi Girls dormitory that killed eight girls.
Upon interviewing some of the students, The Nation reported that the girl who was in Form One harbored plans to set the dormitory on fire.
“According to them, this Form One student had tried to commit suicide twice. First by drinking a detergent and, second by trying to suffocate herself using a pillow,” the local newspaper established.
One of the girls who survived the fire explained that the fire started on the girl’s bed and spread to the neighboring beds.
“There are 10 cubicles in our dormitory, each taking eight to 10 students. I sleep in the one adjacent to the one where the fire started. We heard the students in that cubicle screaming and we went there and tried to stop the fire, but it was spreading very fast and so we decided to run outside.
As we kept screaming the other girls from the top floor also rushed out,” she conveyed.
Education CS Fred Matiang’i, who doubles up as Interior CS in an acting capacity, launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.
He appointed top investigators to carry out a probe in speed so as not interfere with Form Four students preparing to sit for the National examinations.
Matiang'i who visited the school on Saturday morning, further expressed condolences on behalf of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The CS asked Kenyans to avoid speculations on what caused the inferno and wait for investigations to be completed.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko who also arrived at the scene noted that he would conduct an inspection of other private and public schools in Nairobi to ensure that the dormitories had enough fire exits.
Still on Saturday, a fire incident was reported at Sigoti Girls Secondary School in Nyakach area in Kisumu County.
The fire started at 8 am and is said to have destroyed a dormitory occupied by Form Two students.
No casualties were reported in the incident, however, the students lost their property.
The school's Deputy Principal announced that the school would be closed down to allow the students to get over the trauma.
In Makueni, property worth millions was destroyed in Vitale HGM Primary School following a fire outbreak that burned down a boys' dormitory.
According to area Police Commander Samuel Waweru, the early morning incident left no injuries as the inferno hit the school while students were attending their morning preps.
