NYERI, Kenya Sep 9 \u2013 The scientific identification of the bodies of 19 pupils from Hillside Academy, who tragically perished in a fire, began Monday at Narumoro Level 5 Hospital.<\/p>\n
Central Regional Commissioner Pius Murugu announced that all 164 pupils who were in the affected dormitory have now been accounted for.<\/p>\n
During a press briefing, Murugu, alongside Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga, confirmed that parents of the deceased pupils had smoothly provided DNA samples to aid in the identification process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe successfully took samples from the parents. The 19 bodies were severely burnt beyond recognition, but the process has gone well,\u201d Murugu told journalists.<\/p>\n
John Mwangi, a parent who had been searching for his child since the incident occurred last Thursday, expressed relief that, unlike previous days, the Kenya Red Cross and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officials had briefed them on the situation and handled them with care.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was different. We were informed of what to expect during the exercise. I\u2019ve been here since 6 a.m., and we were treated with respect,\u201d Mwangi said.<\/p>\n
Murugu also explained that local chiefs and Red Cross officials had been instrumental in accounting for the previously untraceable pupils.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can now confirm that all pupils previously reported missing have been traced. Sadly, 21 lost their lives\u201419 at the scene and two later in hospitals\u2014while others are still hospitalized,\u201d Murugu added.<\/p>\n
Governor Kahiga urged journalists and social media users to report sensitively, warning against causing further trauma to grieving families.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe parents have asked us to appeal to you to be mindful of their pain. This is not about numbers; it\u2019s about human lives,\u201d Kahiga said.<\/p>\n
He also ordered public departments to survey the safety standards of boarding schools to prevent similar tragedies in the future.<\/p>\n
The devastating fire, whose cause remains unknown, claimed the lives of 21 pupils as they slept in their dormitory. The government has pledged to cover burial costs and medical expenses for those still hospitalized.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NYERI, Kenya Sep 9 \u2013 The scientific identification of the bodies of 19 pupils from Hillside Academy, who tragically perished in a fire, began Monday at Narumoro Level 5 Hospital. Central Regional Commissioner Pius Murugu announced that all 164 pupils who were in the affected dormitory have now been accounted for. During a press briefing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}