Endarasha Tragedy: Parents to wait for one month to receive bodies

Kenya Red Cross personnel assist the parents. who were overwhelmed after viewing the scene at the Nyeri county's Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county on September 6, 2024 after a fire broke out killing 17 children. [Kibata Kihuu, Standard]

Parents of children who perished in a night inferno at Hillside Endarasha Academy last week will wait for one month before collecting the bodies of their children. 

This comes even as the Central Regional Commissioner Pius Murugu announced that all the pupils who were victims of the fire have been accounted for.  

"At the moment, I would like to state that we have been able to account for all the boys who were in that dormitory. As you know, we are 164 and here in this hospital, the bodies which were brought here are 19 and unfortunately, we lost two in the various hospitals," Murugu announced.  

The Regional Commissioner's figures contradict the earlier figures given by Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura who reported that by the time the fire gutted down the dormitory, there were 156 boys therein. 

Murugu while briefing the press yesterday in Narumoru insisted that all the parents had been reached and that everybody had been traced by yesterday. 

"All the parents have been reached and now we are okay as far as those who are missing are concerned, said Murugu.  

Parents who visited the Narumoru morgue for DNA sampling said after the government briefing they were satisfied that their missing children were the ones who were burnt beyond recognition. Most parents said they were ready to wait for the outcomes of the DNA testing.  

John Mwangi, a parent to one of the missing children said state officials needed to give in detail the true account to allow for closure. He said he needed to be certain that his child was among the deceased.  

"We were informed that three pupils are admitted in various hospitals, including KNH Othaya, while 19 had been burnt beyond recognition, two fatalities which occurred at the hospitals while 140 parents have been reunited with their children," Mwangi said.  

According to the parent, 15 parents availed themselves for DNA testing while two others attended the venue later and another two sent their apologies which he said matches with the number of pupils who were burnt in the inferno that occurred between 11pm and 3am.  

He said the process of DNA sampling was based on mothers because they were the ones with highest probabilities of confirmations while the male spouses comforted their wives. 

"The process started with registration and briefing before swapping could take place. We were then asked whether our kids have any identifiable marks on their bodies," Mwangi said.  

As the sampling was conducted yesterday, sorting will be taking place today while on Wednesday postmortem will be conducted with parents who wished to have a private pathologist given a leeway to do so.  

Another parent said they were informed that the results would take 30 days because they will be airlifted to South Africa. 

The government reiterated its commitment to cover all the costs for the whole process including the burial rights.  

The regional commissioner said although the school remained a crime scene and that the officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations would be given time to conclude their investigations, the government would assess the school and other development progress will be carried out in terms of the management of the opening of the school. 

"We need to bring normalcy to the school. We need to bring the people back to school as soon as possible. That is what we were organizing today to make sure everything is okay," he added.  

On his part, Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga who is the co-chair of the committee overseeing the exercise said there was need to re-open the school especially because of the forthcoming Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (Kapsea) exams which he said will be conducted on October. 

"There is need to ensure the pupils do the exam in whichever way they will. Even if it means using other parts of the school, we have to do something. At the same time we have another 824 pupils who must continue learning and so this is something we are going to address. Even if it means moving that dorm away.  

He however said no parent will be forced to readmit his child in the school. 

" If a parent feels that it he won't be able to return his child back to the school... remember as we were talking to some of the parents, they had even told us not try to hold a memorial there. We don't want to go back there, they will be excused," Kahiga said.  

During the prayer ceremony on Saturday, the political class were also pushing for the reopening of the school and committed to assist the proprietor to stand on his feet again.  

Among the political leaders who pledged to support the school included Mps Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu) and Njoroge Wainaina (Kieni)with Kieni saying the repair of the school should not take less than 21 days. 

Parents also seemed to exempt the director of the school from the blame saying he too could not have wished the death of 'his pupils' as well as losing the investments he had made in his community.  

"He has been our friend for a long time, he is more affected than us we have not had any conversation with him and we pray that he is not hard-pressed.  His state of mind could be dire since he has lost 19 of his boys while I have lost one, investment in the facility and the trauma," John Mwangi said.