Kenya school fire: Authorities to start DNA testing to identify victims; govt declares 3 days of mourning

Authorities in Kenya were due to begin DNA testingon Monday (Sept 9)to help identify the boys who lost their lives in a deadly school dormitory blaze last week, a report by the news agency AFP said.

A total of 21 boys diedafter flames engulfed their dormitory at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County as they were sleeping late on Thursday night (Sep5).

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Nineteen bodies were found in the charred ruins of the building, while another two died in hospital, but 17 were still unaccounted for, government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said during the weekend.

Forensic exercise of identification to start soon

During the weekend, government spokespersonIsaac Mwaura said that 19 bodies were foundin the charred ruins of the building, while another two died in hospital, but 17 were still unaccounted for.

Citing the police, the AFP report said that the bodies of the victims were burnt beyond recognitionand families have been facing an agonising wait to find out the fate of their loved ones.

The forensic exercise of identifying the bodies will start on Monday because that's the only way they can be identified," Nyeri County Commissioner Pius Murigu told the news agency.

"We are urging the affected families to turn up tomorrow at the Naromoru hospital to be part of the next process of forensic identification of the remains from this tragedy," he said, referring to a medical facility about an hour's drive from the school.

Postmortems to begin tomorrow

Chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor has said postmortems would begin on Tuesday. The government, meanwhile, declared three days of mourningto honour the victims of the tragedy.

Flags are due to fly at half mast on all Kenyan public buildings, military bases and embassies from dawn on Monday to sunset on Wednesday.

Fire breaks out in other schools

On Sunday, a fire broke out at two other schools in Kenya.

A dorm at Njia Boys High School in the central county of Meru caught fire as students were having supper and no casualties were reported, a police statement said.

The building housing about 150 students "completely burnt down, the inferno consuming everything, and property of unknown value was destroyed", it said.

And on Saturday, another fire erupted at a girls' high school in Isiolo County. A local official said there were several injuries, but police said no one was hurt.

(With inputs from agencies)