Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) say they have positively identified the faces of students who started the fire that killed 16 students and left 79 nursing serious injuries last week at Utumishi Girls Senior School.
As investigations into the deadly inferno entered the fourth day, detectives on Sunday revealed that seven students had lit the fire before they escaped the scene. While six of the seven students are in custody, one of them had been released to her parents but is now being sought.
"After conducting a thorough, detailed forensic analysis of the CCTV footage recovered from the school coupled with enhanced review at the Forensic Imaging and Acoustic Laboratory at DCI National Police Service Forensics Laboratory,a positive identification of the students who lit the fire has been realised," revealed DCI boss Amin Mohamed.
"Further analysis of the CCTV footage, conducted in collaboration with the teachers,has enabled the investigation team to confirm the identity of seven students who participated in the arson before escaping the scene. Of the eight suspects previously arrested, six have been positively identified and confirmed through the footage. The seventh identified student was among those earlier released to their parents and is currently not in custody. Efforts are underway to trace and arrest her," further said the statement.
Director of Homicide Martin Nyuguto address parents and relatives of the 16 students from Utumishi Girls Senior School who perished in a dormitory fire on Thursday night before the start of the postmortem and identification of the bodies at Naivasha Sub-county Hospital Funeral Home on May 30, 2026.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation
The revelations emerged hours after post-mortem examinations conducted on the bodies at the Naivasha Funeral Home revealed that all the 16 students died as a result of severe burns.
DNA samples were also collected from the families of the deceased students to facilitate formal identification of the remains.
On Friday, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations(DCI) arrested eight students in connection with the Thursday morning school fire that claimed 16 lives of their colleagues.
The DCI in a statement said after extensive investigations, the eight were directly linked to planning and execution of the deadly arson attack that shocked the country.
"We have conducted extensive interviews with students, teaching staff and other witnesses and reviewed available CCTV cameras. Preliminary investigations have identified eight students as persons of interest in connection with the planning and execution of the suspected arson attack," said Mr Mohamed.
On Friday, it also emerged that the deadly arson attack was planned and executed by students, who were protesting alleged "high-handedness" by the administration of the school.
Detectives swung into action on Thursday, after survivors of the tragedy claimed that the fire was started by their colleagues who set a mattress alight.
They revealed that the fire from the mattress quickly spread and engulfed the upper floor of the Meline Waithera Block, leading to the loss of lives and injuries.
The investigations team comprises Crime Scene Investigators, Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau officers, those from the Forensic Imaging and Acoustics Unit and the Forensic DNA experts.
Investigators seek to establish the origin of the fire, analyse burn patterns, identify potential ignition sources, determine the presence of any accelerants and evaluate the integrity of electrical installations at the school to establish the exact cause and the sequence of events.
