Death toll rises in Kenyan fire

Gutted: The dormitory had beds for 96 students     WEB EXCLUSIVE Catherine Bond: Death toll rises in Kenya school fire

NAIROBI, Kenya -- The death toll from a blaze at a Kenyan school has risen to 59, authorities say.

Spokesman Nafatali Mungai of Kenyatta National Hospital has confirmed a student who suffered 100 percent burns died on Tuesday.

The fire broke out at Kyanguli Secondary School, in Machakos district, at about 1.40 a.m. (2240 GMT) on Monday.

Local police chief Julius Narangui said he suspected arson caused the fire although investigations at the scene are continuing.

CNN correspondent Catherine Bond said administrators at the government-run school had smelled petrol on the night of the fire but a search of the sleeping block failed to find the source.

Survivors believe a fellow pupil may have started the blaze.

One student said there had been tension at the school following a decision by the local education authority to annul exam results due to suspicions of cheating.

"There was a misunderstanding between the administration and the students," said Mackenzie Waema, 19. "They (the students) had grudges. Some of the students don't have good relations with the teachers. That could have brought this calamity."

Michak Mutuku, 18, whose arm was seriously injured in the blaze, said he believed it had been started by a student angry that other pupils had ignored a call to boycott lessons.

"I think it's because we went to classes," he said. "Because what they wanted (us to do) was disobeyed."

A further 27 pupils were seriously injured in the fire and six -- who were taken to hospitals in the capital Nairobi -- were described as critical.

When firefighters broke through the building, they found the bodies of boys -- ages 15 to 19 -- piled in front of the only exit that was open.

They said many of the victims had been crushed in an attempt to flee the building. A padlock on the outside of one of the two doors and iron bars on the windows prevented escape through those routes, officials said.

Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi visited the scene and said it was a ghastly incident.

The fire came just weeks after 23 schoolgirls were burned alive in a locked hostel in Nigeria.

A similar blaze in 1998 killed more than 20 schoolgirls in a locked dormitory at a school at Bombolulu near the Kenyan Indian Ocean port of Mombassa.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Arson theory in Kenya school fire
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Arson suspected in Kenya fire
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Kenya - CIA Factsheet

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