NAIROBI, May 28, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - A fire in a girls' school dormitory in Kenya on Thursday has left 16 dead and 73 hospitalised, a police source told AFP.

The fire broke out at around 1:00 am local time in Utumishi Girls Academy in Nakuru County, around 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of the capital Nairobi, local media said.

It was not immediately clear if all the casualties were children, but a statement from local authorities said the fire broke out in a dorm where around 220 girls were sleeping.

"First responders, ambulance crew and our support personnel are currently on the ground," a spokesperson for the Kenyan Red Cross told AFP, declining to give a toll.

The school is linked to the National Police Service, in an area that hosts several army and training facilities.

Frantic parents were being held outside the school buildings by authorities, according to local media.

There have been many devastating school fires in Kenya, where boarding schools are common as a colonial legacy of missionaries and the British.

A fire in 2024 killed 21 boys after flames engulfed a dormitory at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county.

Children have been accused of deliberately starting fires in the past. One report found there were 63 arson cases at schools in 2018 alone.

A 2017 report by Kenya's National Crime Research Centre blamed exam stress and long school terms, and said students in different schools were communicating via smuggled phones, leading to copycat acts.

After the deadly 2024 fire, the government promised a safety audit of all schools and to prosecute violators.