Monday, September 9, 2024 - One young survivor of the Hillside Endarasha Academy has provided a chilling account of how the fire that claimed the lives of 21 students unfolded.
According to the mother of one of the survivors, her son
described being jolted awake when another pupil sleeping on the top bunk of a
double-decker bed near the entrance saw sparks fly from the light bulb above
him.
"He explained that one of the children was startled
awake when the bulb exploded, sending sparks onto his mattress, which then
caught fire," she recounted.
The student immediately jumped down in a frantic search for
water to put out the flames but found none within reach.
As precious seconds passed, the fire spread rapidly like
bushfire across the beds.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, the student rushed
back to the dormitory to alert his fellow pupils.
Despite their best efforts to wake everyone and attempt to
extinguish the flames, the fire had already gained too much ground.
The fire started near the main entrance of the dormitory, in
a section where 48 students were sleeping in 24 double-decker beds, 12 beds
lined up on the right side and 12 on the left.
Each child had a sleeping space, but the proximity of the
wooden beds and cardboard partitions that separated different areas only fueled
the rapid spread of the flames.
The dormitory’s structural materials, including wood and
cardboard, proved disastrous as the fire escalated, creating a near-impossible
situation for those trying to escape.
Reports have indicated that the lights in the dormitory were
kept on throughout the night, a factor that may have played a role in how
quickly the fire began.
With the beds closely together, the fire rapidly consumed
the flammable materials.
The students’ only option was to flee the dormitory as the
fire spread uncontrollably, but tragically, not all were able to make it out in
time.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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