Parents, media blocked from accessing St Anne's School after fire
Parents gather at the school gate after a fire gutted down a dormitory at St Annes Girls Secondary School in Nairobi.
Threats and curses are what greeted parents who had rushed to find out if their children were safe after a fire incident at St Anne's Girls Secondary School along Jogoo Road, Nairobi.
The inferno, whose cause is yet to be established, happened early on Thursday morning and razed down one of the school's dormitories.
The fire which started at around 6:30am saw one of the dormitories that houses 112 students from different classes consume the students' learning materials and personal effects.
Makadara Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit Commander (CIPU), James Kariuki, said the fire started from a cubicle before spreading to the whole dormitory.
“We are yet to establish the cause of the fire,” he said.
Police inspect the scene at St Anne's Girls Secondary School in Nairobi on February 25, 2021 after a fire gutted down a dormitory.
Some of the shocked students were rushed to Makadara Health Centre after their belongings were burnt down.
This writer and a photographer who had managed to access the scene were threatened and kicked out of the premises.
“Who gave you the permission to come and take pictures here? If I see anything in the media about this we will sue you,” the deputy principal said.
She then instructed two security guards to come and escort this writer and his photographer out of the school compound.
Police inspect the scene at St Anne's Girls Secondary School in Nairobi on February 25, 2021 after a fire gutted down a dormitory.
Outside, it took the intervention of Buru Buru Deputy OCPD Stephen Okal to calm parents down after the deputy principal declined to speak to them about the incident.
“I can assure you that no student was injured and no one was taken to hospital because of the fire. The school board is meeting and they will address you soon,” he said.
According to one parent who had rushed to the school, the deputy principal was new and they didn’t even know her name.
“All we want is to see our children and make sure they are not injured. Why are you locking us out yet there has been an incident?” she wondered.
Another parent said she saw several students who couldn’t walk on their own being escorted by their friends to a different room.
Firefighters from the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), with the assistance of members of the public, succeeded in putting out the fire.
