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Kenyan prosecutors have said they will charge students involved in a school fire that killed 16 students in May with murder.
The incident occurred after midnight on May 28 in a dormitory at Utumishi Girls’ School in Gilgil, killing 16 students and leaving 132 others injured.
Nine pupils from the school, which mainly caters to children of police officers, remain in police custody. Most were arrested the day after the tragedy on charges of arson.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has approved murder charges against the implicated students.
According to a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, the suspects are expected to be charged in court on Wednesday and will face 16 counts of murder each.
The spokesperson, however, declined to disclose how many students would be charged or provide further details, as the suspects are minors.
Several deadly dormitory fires have rocked Kenya in recent years. According to the Kenyan Red Cross, there have been at least 47 such incidents in 2026.
AFP reports that additional fires have broken out since the Utumishi incident, prompting dozens of boarding schools to send students home to prevent further tragedies.
Experts have attributed the incidents partly to copycat attacks and to long-standing frustration with an under-resourced and highly demanding education system.
