Kenya mourns bus and fire victims

The aftermath of a dormitory following a deadly fire

MACHAKOS, Kenya -- Kenyans are demanding safety standards for schools and roads be raised as they mourn the victims from recent bus and fire tragedies.

In the space of one week, Kenya was struck by two disasters. Sixty-nine teenage boys were burned to death when fire ripped through their school dormitory on March 26.

Days later two buses slammed into each other on a bridge on the Indian Ocean coast and plunged into the river below, killing at least 33 people and possibly many more.

On Wednesday, 58 of the fire victims were buried in a mass grave at their school in Machakos, near Nairobi. Their bodies had been burned beyond recognition.

Many of the bus crash victims were also buried on Wednesday hundreds of kilometres to the southeast in another mass grave on the banks of the River Sabaki, after the bus was pulled from the floodwaters.

Kenya's newspapers said the two tragedies had a common thread -- a lack of respect for safety procedures at all levels of the state.

"The toll of major disasters in Kenya reads chillingly like a telephone number," the Daily Nation said.

"How many shattered lives will it take for Kenyans to come to terms with the fact that the so-called disasters that have dogged this country are not so much accidents as direct consequences of negligence and an inability to come to grips with the principle of accountability?" the paper asked.

Police say they are investigating allegations that an arsonist may have started the blaze at Kyanguli Secondary School after a row over a recent cheating scandal.

However the blaze started, the tragedy was magnified by overcrowding in the dormitory and the fact that windows and escape routes were barred.

President Daniel arap Moi acknowledged that safety procedures had not been respected at the school.

"The door should have been opened one way or another," he said while visiting the school last week. "It's terrible. It should not have been allowed that way. These children could have escaped easily."

Moi said the government has followed the investigation and has reached a stage of knowing what happened.

"There are many enemies and so we ask parents to be near their children," he said, adding that Satanist images had begun to appear at some Kenyan schools.

Relatives of the bus crash victims were angry that local authorities had delayed bringing cranes and other rescue equipment to the site.

Cabinet minister Maalim Mohamed, whose brother was among the victims, said the real blame lay with bus companies using unqualified drivers and police who failed to enforce road safety laws.

Nine coastal MPs said on Wednesday they would introduce legislation to make it mandatory for all buses to be installed with mechanisms to limit their speed.

Last year 101 people were killed when two overcrowded buses collided and burst into flames at Kapkatunga 300 kilometres (185 miles) west of Nairobi.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Death toll rises in Kenya crash
April 2, 2001
Kenya school fire kills 58 children
March 26, 2001
Kenya crash bus pulled from river
April 4, 2001
Kenyan school fire victims buried
April 4, 2001

Africa Online (Kenya)

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