UTUMISHI GIRLS FIRE: CCTV Footage Reveals Harrowing Moment In The School Tragedy

UTUMISHI GIRLS FIRE: CCTV Footage Reveals Harrowing Moment In The School Tragedy

The CCTV footage from Utumishi Girls’ Service High School recounts a horrifying story about eight students who allegedly walked into a dormitory and deliberately set fire to it, killing 16 of their classmates.

The video, which is now vital to a police investigation, shows five students entering the Marylyn Waithera dormitory about 12:10 a.m., when most pupils were fast asleep and unaware of the imminent danger.

According to the security film, the students made their way to Cube 11, where they lingered briefly before moving on, without sharing a single word with one another.

One of the students is seen attempting to conceal his face from the cameras while clutching a slipper in her hands, presumably to muffle their movements around the dormitory.

A minute later, three of the girls can be seen hurriedly walking towards the dormitory’s door, with two others left behind.

CCTV footage linked to the Utumishi Girls dormitory fire has emerged online. Investigations are ongoing to establish the full facts behind the incident. pic.twitter.com/sKq7KYUWzx— Ice Man🧊 (@vybzmartel_) May 31, 2026

The duo who remained were in possession of a matchbox, which was used to start the initial blaze.

Footage captures the two girls lighting a match before casually walking towards the dorm door.

The students were then spotted heading towards a section of the dormitory where mattresses are stored, where they set another fire. This time, the blaze grew relatively faster.

After confirming the extent of the fire, the suspects can be seen walking out of the dormitory without looking back, leaving their sleeping classmates at the mercy of the growing inferno.

At 12:13 am, the fire had spread with frightening speed, and by this time, several students had woken up in a panic, trying to understand what was taking place.

Within just five minutes, the fire had grown to a massive scale, engulfing the dormitory as panicked students scrambled desperately to escape the thick smoke and towering flames.

Investigators say the fire was deliberately started at the dormitory entrance, the main escape route for the students, after kerosene was maliciously smeared around the area.

This effectively blocked any chance of escape once the blaze erupted, leaving many students trapped with nowhere to run for safety.

From the inferno, 16 students lost their lives in the fire, and 79 others were rushed to the hospital with injuries sustained as they tried to flee the burning building.

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Notably, 10 of the deceased lost their lives at the heart of the blaze near the entrance, while six other victims were deep inside the dormitory.

Police moved swiftly, arresting eight students in connection with the fire.

The suspects are currently in custody as investigations continue and detectives piece together the full picture.

However, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations(DCI) confirmed that one of the suspects’ whereabouts is unknown after initially being released.

Following the incident that sent shock waves across the country, Interior Cabinet Secretary on May 31 ordered all schools to install CCTV cameras to monitor students’ movements and prevent such incidents from ever happening.

While speaking during a Thanksgiving ceremony at Kipsigis Girls, he stated that if the CCTV footage at Utumishi Girls had been released on time, the victims from the incident could have been saved.

UTUMISHI GIRLS FIRE: CCTV Footage Reveals Harrowing Moment In The School Tragedy