By Ebi kesiena
Fire has erupted in a dormitory at the Ofafa Jericho high school in Kenya’s Nairobi County, sending students and teacher into panic.
The fire that broke out at midnight Monday, injured about 40 students who have been hospitalized after inhaling the smoke.
According to reports, the students and teachers came out to survey the damage as the fire gutted their dormitory.
The school’s Principal, Mathews Linge noted that the students taken to the hospital are responding to treatment.
“Most of the students actually who were taken to hospital, they were attended to and they were actually returned back to school. The few who are in hospital, we have also talked to the hospitals and they have assured us that they are in stable condition,” he said.
He said the students inhaled smoke as they helped to put out the fire.
The blaze destroyed personal effects belonging to the students.
Medical authorities said most of the hospitalized students were suffering from breathing complications, but that they suffered no burns.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known and members of the Nairobi County Department said investigations would commence at day break Tuesday.
However, school fires are common in Kenya as authorities have blamed arsonists and poor safety protocols.