Two girls arrested in connection with dormitory fire in Machakos

Two(2) students from Nyayo Girls Secondary School in Kalama, Machakos County have been arrested in connection with a fire incident that razed down two dormitories at the school on Sunday night.

The Form Two girls were taken into custody soon after the tragedy occurred at around 8:30pm.

The two(2) are currently locked up at Konza Police Station.

"The two suspects were detained at the Konza Police Station, where they spent the night after being linked to the incidents," a source said at the station revealed.

Nothing was salvaged from the fires, which ripped through the dormitories housing 146 students.

There were no reported injuries or deaths in the incidents, as students were in classrooms for their overnight preparation when the fire incident occurred.

“Nothing was salvaged from the dormitories during the incidents. All the affected students were accommodated in classrooms where they spent the night waiting to be released to go home today,” the source added.

324 of the total of 526 students were at the school during the incident.

Elsewhere in neighbouring Makueni County, a dormitory at Makindu Girls High School was reportedly destroyed on the same night.

Police said the dormitory, which housed 55 students, went up in flames following student unrest at the institution.

Police have since launched an investigation into both fires.

The two incidents come as at least 20 schools in Machakos and Makueni Counties had sent students home as of Sunday with more ordered to leave on Monday, this is due to student unrest.

The closure comes as the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) intensifies its strike.