Utumishi Girls tragedy: Chilling CCTV footage shows how fire started

Fresh developments in the Utumishi Girls Academy fire investigation have emerged as detectives continue to piece together evidence to unearth the cause of the deadly inferno that killed 16 students.

Citizen TV has obtained exclusive CCTV footage that investigators say captures how the seven suspects, now in police custody, gained access to the dormitory and started the fire on the night of May 28.

Homicide detectives investigating the case say the suspects were arrested after forensic analysis of the CCTV footage allegedly placed them at the scene of the crime.

In the footage, ten minutes past midnight, five students were captured walking inside the ill-fated dormitory minutes before disaster struck.

In a coordinated manner, they tiptoe seemingly checking to confirm their colleagues are asleep.

They were captured running the same inspection at Cube 11 before they disappeared to Cube 13. Three seconds later they emerged but this time round they appeared to be in a rush after allegedly using kerosene to start the fire.

Two students were captured at Cube 11 where they torched a blurred item before throwing it inside the Cube. They moved to the next Cube where they did the same.

From there they moved to another Cube and lit fire before running downstairs. The operation takes about two minutes and fire spread fast.

A few students woke up immediately and alerted their dorm mates and they scampered for safety while smoke engulfed the dormitory.

Four days later Citizen TV accessed the dormitory and was met with a horrific scene of the remains of what used to be a dormitory for more than 250 students.

Charred walls and beds, burnt suitcases and mattresses are what remained to what stood as a sleeping abode for learners.

Even the CCTV cameras that captured the suspects in action were not spared as well as the bathrooms and sinks designated for sanitation were also destroyed.

The one-storey dormitory has five doors; two main doors —on the front and at the back — and one exit door where reports indicate nine bodies were found.

What remains a puzzle is that the fire did not affect the dormitory on the ground floor as beds are neatly tucked and student essentials are organized.
Outside the building there is a disturbing image of cracked glasses, burnt mattresses, empty fire extinguishers spread all over, what remained after efforts by students trying to save their own

Homicide detectives investigating the case have confirmed the arrest of the seven students alleged to have been behind the planning and execution.

Six suspects had been arrested initially as the seventh was picked by detectives from their home in Nakuru County after being released to her parents.

She was taken to Gilgil where she was grilled by homicide detectives probing the case.

Meanwhile, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has urged schools to install CCTV cameras as a way to avert such tragedies and monitor student activities.