Agony and pain as it emerges that only 2 pupils’ bodies have been identified at Hillside Endarasha Academy fire tragedy that claimed 21 lives.

Monday, September 9, 2024 - Parents and guardians of students who perished in the Endarasha fire tragedy will have to endure longer days of anguish because it will be extremely difficult to identify the bodies of the deceased.

This is according to reports which revealed that only the bodies of two pupils had been positively identified.

This comes even as the death toll from the school fire had risen to 21 after two more students succumbed to injuries.

According to sources close to the investigators, many of the students who perished in the fire were burned so severely that it was impossible to identify them by the naked eye.

This leaves only DNA testing as the most plausible way to identify the victims and this process could take weeks, possibly months.

The government only has two complete bodies; that of a student who died at the Mary Immaculate Hospital while receiving treatment and another student who lost the battle on Saturday morning after being taken to Kenyatta National Hospital for further treatment.

Several factors have been attributed to the tragedy, including the school's failure to observe the 1.2-meter spacing rule between beds in the same row in the dormitory.

A two-meter alleyway between beds is also a requirement that was reportedly not met.

A pupil who survived the inferno claimed the fire started near the main entrance of the dormitory in a section where 48 students were sleeping.

Part of the reason the fire escalated so quickly was because of the dormitory's structural materials which included wood and cardboard.

The Kenyan DAILY POST