Confusion engulfed the school compound as panicked parents streamed to the school early in the morning to check on their children upon receiving the news of the tragedy
It all began on Wednesday evening after the girls retreated to their beds upon completing their evening studies. There was nothing unusual within the school compound.
The 809 students who were at the school at the time returned to their respective dormitories shortly before lights were put out and within minutes, silence had fallen across the compound.
Shortly after midnight, screams pierced through the darkness at Meline Waithera Block B, a dormitory that accommodated 200 students in Grade 10, Form Three and Form Four. A section of the dormitory was in flames.
Parents take photographs of the ruins of the dormitory following an overnight fire at the Utumishi Girls' Academy Senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru county, Kenya May 28, 2026.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya
What followed was confusion as the girls scampered for safety. Many of the girls rushed out barefoot and wrapped in blankets as they struggled to escape the inferno that was quickly spreading.
Panic spread quickly across the school compound as frightened students in the nearby dormitories screamed for help, attracting teachers who liaised with the Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) officers manning the institution.
Drawn by the smoke and screams, anxious neighbours and parents rushed to the school as early as 4am, but they were met with closed gates as security forces restricted access.
A burnt dormitory at Utumishi Girls Senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru County on May 28, 2026.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation Media Group
A parent, Ms Susan Kohoto, said she received a phone call from a fellow parent around 5am, informing her of the incident and urging her to rush to the school.
The parent of a Grade 10 student said that they were kept outside the gates but were finally allowed into the compound around 7.30am and addressed by the security officials. She said she was fortunate to find her daughter unhurt, although traumatised and shocked.
“I was accompanied by my sister since I did not know what to expect ... What surprises me is that we brought our children here knowing it is a police institution and that they will be taken care of. I am wondering where they were when the fire broke out. How come they did not get any intelligence?” she asked.
Another parent cut short Deputy Inspector-General of Police Edward Lagat’s speech demanding to know the whereabouts of her daughter.
Kin to Utumishi Girls' student calls for enforcement of disaster management in boarding schools
School Principal Joycelene Muraguri said she reported the fire to Gilgil Police Station and Sub-County Police Commander Winston Mwakio led officers and Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers to the scene.
A firefighting vehicle from Naivasha sub-county, Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), water bowsers from ASTU, Kenya Forest Service and National Youth Service managed to contain the fire after several hours
The 79 girls who were injured were taken to hospital, with 71 treated and discharged. Eight students were admitted. Most students suffered injuries as they struggled to escape the raging fire through the main door.
Red Cross volunteers and Homicide detectives remove the bodies of the 16 students from Utumishi Girls Senior who perished in a dormitory inferno on May 28, 2026.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi| Nation Media Group
“Most of my colleagues from the furthest end of the dorm had to struggle to reach the entrance. Others squeezed themselves through the narrow windows, but had to jump from the building to save their lives,” said a Grade 10 student.
A Form Three student receiving treatment at St Joseph's Hospital said she was forced to jump out through the window to save her life.
“The fire started in the middle of the dormitory next to my cube. Since I was not able to run out through the door and the fire was spreading fast, I jumped through the window and I suffered injuries on my legs and hands,” she said.
A Form Four student narrated how she was woken up by screams from her colleagues as they scampered for safety.
Principal Assistant to the DIG Masoud Mwinyi gives update on the fire tragedy at Utumishi Girls
“I was already deep asleep when the fire broke out. I was woken up by screams and I saw the fire spreading fast towards my bed. I ran towards the door and I luckily escaped unhurt. A colleague who sleeps next to my bed suffered severe burns,” said the student.
According to St Joseph’s Hospital’s Medical Officer Collins Malalu, the facility mobilised an emergency response team to handle the 69 patients received from the school.
“Most of the students had fractures, lacerations and anxiety following the incident, but we managed to stabilise all of them,” said Dr Malalu.
The dormitory at Utumishi Girls Senior school that caught fire, killing scores of students while others are nursing serious injuries.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation
He added that seven students with more serious injuries were airlifted to Kenyatta National Hospital and Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital for specialised treatment.
“One student is suspected to have developed an inhalation injury and is under close observation,” said Dr Malalu.
“Out of the 69 students received, 61 were treated as outpatients while those with fractures were immobilised using back slabs and those with lacerations were stitched and stabilised,” he added.
Even as top security authorities, led by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen who visited the institution on yesterday, said investigations have been launched to establish the exact cause of the fire, the Nation has established from sources that it may have been caused by a burning mattress.
Utumishi Girls' Academy fire tragedy: CS Murkomen and DCI boss Mohammed Amin arrive at the school
“We have launched investigations to establish the exact cause of the fire. Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations have taken over the matter to establish the cause of the inferno,” said Mr Murkomen.
In an exclusive interview with one of the parents whose daughter (a Form Three student) survived the tragedy and who requested anonymity, the fire started in the middle of the dormitory.
The parent revealed, according to an account by her daughter, the fire was started by a group of Form Three students who set a mattress on fire, before it quickly spread.
“My daughter told me that a group of unruly Form Three Students, who were protesting alleged high-handedness of the school administration, set a mattress on fire, causing the fire that spread across the dormitory,” aid the parent. “She explained that the fire started at a bed in the middle of the dormitory, before it quickly spread. Since her bed was located near the entrance, she was able to escape unhurt.”
A parent wails as she demands answers from Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen, his Education counterpart Julius Ogamba and PS Julius Bitok when they arrived at Utumishi Girls Senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru County.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation
A detective privy to the investigation into the fire told the Nation that six girls have since been taken in for questioning.
“We want to establish how it [paraffin] got to the school, the reason they did that. The scene was traumatising, more than seven bodies were in one corner. It seems the girls were moving in groups due to fear when they were overwhelmed,” said the detective.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, who visited the school on Thursday, revealed that the deadly fire broke out at around 12.45 am, claiming lives and destroying property valued at thousands of shillings.
Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen, his Education counterpart Julius Ogamba and PS Julius Bitok arrive at Utumishi Girls Senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru County, where more than 10 students lost their lives while score sustained serious injuries after a fire broke out in one of the dormitories at 12 midnight.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi| Nation Media Group
“We have established that the school has a total of 815 girls. At the time of the incident, there were 809 girls in school. Six were home for various reasons. Seventy-nine learners were injured during the tragedy and taken to hospital where they were treated and seventy-one were discharged,” said Mr Ogamba, who was accompanied by Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok.
“We unfortunately had 16 fatalities,” added the CS.
Out of the 16 fatalities, six bodies have so far been identified, according to the Kenya Red Cross.
The fire tragedy exposed systemic neglect and widespread violations of the Ministry of Education safety guidelines, amid revelations that the dormitory was overcrowded, housing 200 students instead of about 100.
A parent consoles a student from Utumishi Girls senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru County on May 28, 2026 after 16 students perished in a dormitory fire. Seven other sustained serious injuries.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi| Nation Media Group
“The dormitory layout was like a trap that has killed our daughters. It had no emergency doors, or clear evacuation routes. The students were all struggling to exit through the main door when the fire struck. Others used the windows to escape death. It is sad that the school did not adhere to basic standards of safety,” a parent whose daughter managed to escape said.
The Nation also established that the fire spread quickly across the dormitory because of the wooden materials used in partitioning.
“The girls lived in a very crowded space and the structures within the dormitory, including wooden materials used in partitioning, aggravated the situation,” added the parent.
Administration police and Red Cross volunteers console of the parent who missed the name of her daughter on the list of survivors at Utumishi Girls Senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru County on May 28, 2026.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi| Nation Media Group
It was also alleged that at the time of the tragedy, the dormitory was locked from the inside and the keys to the door could not be traced, it therefore took time to break the door to create access.
Devastated parents yesterday demanded a review of guidelines on safety standards in schools to tame tragedies.
“The dormitory housed too many students and does not have emergency exits in case of danger. We have established that some of the learners were sleeping very far from the main door. This was risky. We want the Ministry of Education to conduct a fresh review of the safety of learners in schools,” said a parent.
“The lives lost at Utumishi Girls were not lost just because of the fire. They were lost because of a complete lack of safety systems to prevent such a disaster. Kwa hii shule, tunataka wasiweke wanafunzi wengi pamoja, bweni ziwe kadhaa.Wanafunzi wako na uoga sana na pia sisi tuko na uoga (We don’t want the school to have too many students in one dormitory. The students are fearful and so are we),” added the parent.
A parent at Utumishi Girls gives her daughter's account of the fire
The extent of damage to the dormitory and the value of property destroyed had not been established by the time of publication, but mattresses, students’ belongings and uniforms were lost in the inferno.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Secretary-General Akello Misori, while sending his condolences to the families that lost their children, raised concerns over the security measures at the school.
In a statement, Mr Akello called for accountability for the loss of lives, noting that the incident comes in the backdrop of similar previous tragedies at Moi Girls High School in Nairobi and Hillside Academy in Nyeri where the government policy on safety of the school was put under scrutiny.
He said that the County Education Board, Quality Assurance officers as well as the school board and management and the police command in charge of the school security should be held to account.
“School safety is an integral and indispensable component of the teaching and learning process. Assuring school safety requires a coordinated approach by all relevant agencies,” said Mr Misori.
Reporting by Mercy Koskei, Eric Matara, Leleti Jassor, Fabiola Akinyi and Joseph Openda.
