Early in the morning of 5 September 2024, a fire broke out in a dormitory of Hillside Endarasha Academy, a school in Belle Vue, Nyeri County, Kenya, killing 21 students.
Reactions Following the fire, reports emerged of the dormitory having been overcrowded, and the National Gender and Equality Commission called for an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the fire. A number of Kenyan boarding schools had had fire incidents in the years prior to the Nyeri fire, the most serious one killing 67 students in a dormitory in 2021, and Education cabinet secretary Julius Ogamba released a statement saying that regulations concerning fire safety needed to be reviewed.
President William Ruto declared 3 days of mourning and ordered an investigation into the fire. In Vatican City Pope Francis sent condolences to the victims' families.
Aftermath The government announced that Hillside Endarasha Academy would reopen on 9 October, less than 5 weeks after the fire, but on 12 October, a court order forced the school to close its boarding facilities again, due to concerns for the safety and health of the students. During a court hearing in December, the owners stated that the school would reopen as a day school.
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