What post-mortem on 21 victims of Hillside Endarasha tragedy reveals
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki with DCI Homicide Director Martin Nyuguto and government pathologist Johansen Oduor outside the Naromoru Level IV Hospital Mortuary in Nyeri on September 12, 2024.
Pupils who perished in the Hillside Endarasha Academy fire tragedy had severe burns with several missing some body parts, chief government pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor said on Thursday September 12.
He said the team of pathologists successfully carried out post-mortems on all the 21 bodies.
“They had different degree of burns and some of them were burnt to the bones...to a level that they had the lower parts of the limbs missing,” Dr Oduor said.
He went on: “However, we were able to obtain samples from inner parts of the bodies for DNA analysis to establish their identity and match them with their parents.”
Dr Oduor spoke at the Naromoru Hospital Mortuary on Thursday where Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki also addressed journalists on the progress of the investigations.
Prof Kindiki said the government had deployed relevant agencies and assured that the probe would be conclusive. However, he said he could not provide information on investigations that are ongoing.
So far, the police are mum on how many people have recorded statements in connection to the tragedy, only saying that Mr David Kinyua, the owner of the school, was helping detectives to probe the incident.
Prof Kindiki also warned the public against spreading fake news on social media regarding the tragedy, and assured the nation that the government had nothing to hide.
“I have seen some issues on numbers on social media...I want to say that this is a national security matter...we have made it very clear that we have nothing to hide. We shall give the information daily in a very coordinated way,” Prof Kindiki said.
'No lost children'
The Interior Cabinet Secretary said that currently the government has not recorded any lost children from the tragedy, noting that the relevant government agencies had finished reconciling figures on the number of boys in the dormitory that night
“We had a total of 823 pupils enrolled in the school, out of these, 330 were boarders. On the fateful night, we had 164 boys and 166 girls in the two dormitories,” he said.
According to the Interior CS, out of the 164 boys sleeping in the dorm that night, 143 of them are alive and 140 of them are already with parents while three are currently hospitalised in different hospitals within the county.
He warned the public against spreading misinformation on the statistics, saying, “any other person trying to play whatever game on the statistics is a heartless criminal, because this is a time that we are facing such an issue as a country. We should come together to support the families.”
Protest
Meanwhile, a group of activists protested Thursday outside the school, saying the government was hiding information from the public.
The protests dubbed 'Occupy Endarasha' saw a group of activists demand to know the status of children said to be missing.
Led by activist Kasmuel Mcoure, the youths also complained about the investigations.
"We have seen on social media that not all children have been accounted for. On our way here, we still had parents complaining about missing children, why is the government lying to us?" asked one of the demonstrators.
But while addressing their concerns outside the school gate, Nyeri Deputy County Commissioner Agnes Shadrack urged the youths to remain patient and wait for the investigation report.
The demos created a standstill outside the school for over three hours.
However, a number of locals barricaded roads leading to the school.
One of the locals, Mr John Muturi, urged the protesting youths to wait for the investigation report by relevant government agencies.
"As a village, we want peace. We want space to grieve our children. We appreciate our youths' concerns but this is the wrong time. Let's wait and see what the government will find," he said.
