Parents grieve after visiting the scene where 17 pupils perished in a dormitory fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County on September 6, 2024.
Anxious parents whose children have died or remain unaccounted for after the Hillside Endarasha Academy fire tragedy will have to wait until Monday or even longer to know the fate of their loved ones.
Government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said the process of identifying children who perished would be conducted starting Monday at Naromoru Hospital after DNA samples have been analysed. This came as the death toll rose to 21, up from 17 on Friday, September 6.
Mr Mwaura said a total of 19 bodies were recovered Saturday from the scene with the help of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the government pathologist on site, while two additional deaths have occurred in hospital at the Kenyatta National Hospital and Mary Immaculate Hospital, Nyeri.
Officers from the office of government pathologists carry bodies of pupils who died after a fatal fire at the Hillside Endarasha Academy, Kieni, Nyeri County, Kenya, September 7, 2024.
Mr Mwaura was also at pains to explain the whereabouts of the 70 children Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said on Friday were yet to be accounted for with the possibility that some could have been taken by neighbours or relatives who were yet to inform the authorities.
The government has appealed for all the children to be brought to school for a headcount.
“As it stands now, 48 children are unaccounted for,” said Mr Mwaura.
But for the anxious parents, the wait — from Thursday evening at 11 pm when the fire is said to have broken out, now pushed to Monday at 9 am — is 82 hours too long and many can hardly bear it.
And the emotions are already out in the open, some of them crying uncontrollably on Saturday afternoon after the government offered them lunch, with chants of, “We do not want food. We want to know the fate of our children.”
Read: ‘We tried our best to save them’: Rescuers, relatives' horrors in Hillside Endarasha fire tragedy
Mr Mwaura also denied claims that some 26 children had been found Saturday and surrendered to the government authorities, and asked parents to be patient and await completion of investigations.
He spoke even as angry parents who had become impatient protested, saying they were being taken around in circles over the fate of their loved ones.
Simon Gakuo, who works in Laikipia County, said since he arrived at the school on Friday, he was in the dark about where his only son was.
“I did not find him in hospital and he’s not in school. I have searched all over the villages with little success. I have now resigned to fate that he might be among those who perished. But we have been told to wait,” said the father of four.
“They say that we have to wait for DNA samples to enable them to establish whether he is among those affected,” he said.
Mr Gakuo, who entered the dormitory to see what had happened, said he was traumatised by the sight of charred remains of the children.
“I don’t know what to say. It was very disturbing,” he says. “If my son is among them I will come to terms with the situation and it’s the will of God and I pray that we’re comforted.”
Elizabeth Nderitu, a parent who had camped at the school for two days waiting to get information on her 12-year-old missing nephew, said no information was forthcoming.
Forensics experts at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county on September 7, 2024 where a fire tragedy led to the death of 21 children.
“There is nothing harder than waiting in uncertainty. I would rather know the misfortune that I am facing so that I can prepare myself mentally,” she said.
By 6 pm Saturday, Elizabeth was still pacing around the school gate, frequently checking in with the Kenya Red Cross Information desk stationed outside, hoping for any news about her missing kin, Bernard Warutere.
“I’ve been waiting outside the school since Friday midnight, only rushing home in the evenings to sleep and freshen up. The government has not given us any details concerning the 70 children who are currently unaccounted for,” Elizabeth told Nation.Africa.
She routinely exchanged the duty with her two relatives who had accompanied her in the search.
Elizabeth lives less than a kilometre from the school where her nephew studied.
She says that he started in Kindergarten and later moved to boarding in Grade Six, as required by the school.
On the night of the fire, she was among the community members who responded to the scene and helped put out the fire.
By the time she arrived, some of the pupils had been saved from the fire by neighbours and teachers covered in wet blankets and assembled at the parade ground.
There was no matron or watchmen on site, and she says that the fire was first responded to by a neighbour and some congregants who were in night worship in a nearby church before the fire engines from Kiawara responded to the situation.
She recalls seeing one of the pupils trying to escape the building through the window but got stuck and was luckily saved by one of the parents.
“I later found out that the boy died while on his way to the hospital because of the injuries,” she said, adding that the rescuers ran out of water to stop the fire and were forced to wait on the Kiawara Fire Engines.
She later returned to the school at around 7 am, hoping that government agencies who had covered the site as a crime scene would provide information on her nephew.
“All we were told is that we should be patient as there were pupils who escaped the fire and were hosted by neighbours,” she said.
On the same day, Elizabeth says that she got information that her nephew, whom she refers to as her ‘adopted son’ had been seen in Mahiga in the Othaya sub-county, which is about 70 kilometres away from the school.
“I was informed that he had been hosted by one of the locals only to later find out that it was a case of mistaken identity,” she says.
Elizabeth says that many of the children who were rescued from the fire were traumatized and hardly spoke.
Crime scene investigators at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county on September 7, 2024.
“Therefore, it was no surprise when I was told that the boy could not even utter his name. The locals called me because his physical attributes were similar to my nephew,” she said.
Ever since, she has made several trips to three government hospitals — Mathari Mission Hospital, Nyeri County Referral Hospital and the Mwai Kibaki KNH annex where the survivors have been taken, but there are no records of her kin.
“I am worried because Bernard did not have a habit of staying in people’s houses, he had a quiet and reserved nature. If he is currently being housed by someone, he would have easily found his way home since he knows this area very well,” she said.
It also emerged that neighbours who were the first to arrive at the school found the door to the dormitory locked from outside.
“The door was locked from the outside and we had to break it while the watchman was not there,” said Josphat Murimi.
“It was also shocking that when we arrived, there were no screams from inside. It is possible that most children suffocated before they died. We came to put off the fire but later discovered there were children trapped in the building,” he said.
Asked about the claim that the door was locked when the fire broke out, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said it was also part of the investigations being carried out and that he would not talk about it.
The 156 pupils normally resided at the dormitory with a school official whom they fondly referred to as ‘uncle’.
Sources say that the school was also guarded by four watchmen.
But at the time of the incident, none were on site, first responders have said.
Some of the older boys who were woken up by her son’s screams, assisted each other in breaking the dormitory’s back door which was locked with a padlock.
According to her son, many of the children who escaped through the back door were able to jump the school fence for safety in neighbouring homes.
Some of the children who woke up to the fire fainted out of suffocation as they crowded to exit through the entrance, back door or windows for escape.
At the same time, Pope Francis Saturday expressed his condolences over the incident, saying he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the loss of young lives.
“His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to be informed of the loss of young life... and expresses his spiritual closeness to all who are suffering the effects of this calamity, especially the injured and the families who grieve,” the telegram to Nyeri Archbishop Anthony Muheria by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, says.
The message went on: “Upon all, the Holy Father invokes the Lord’s blessings of strength, peace and consolation.”
President Ruto has already declared three days of national mourning, during which flags will be flown at half-mast.
